Squeaky Saga

Apples, cherries, apricots, popcorn…Squeaky loved them all while he was a guest in our home. And I think he loved us too. I’ve never before had such a relationship with a wild animal. Each morning any one of us could extend an arm into Squeaky’s cage and he would gingerly hop onto our hand and crawl right up our arm to say good morning.
Indeed, life was good for Squeaky. Too good, actually. We started to think about the fall and the winter. Would Squeaky stay with us? Would he hibernate with us? Could he survive outside…
So we decided to experiment. One evening we took Squeaky outside and put him into a hollowed out nook inside one of our cottonwood trees. We gave Squeaky a cherry, which he took with both his hands and ate and then we said goodnight. Yes, there were some tears. But, we felt like it was time for Squeaky to have some squirrel adventures. We had successfully nursed him back to health and now we wanted to see if he could survive on his own.

The next morning we went out to the tree, looked inside the nook and called for Squeaky. And out he popped his head and flew on over to me, and crawled up my arm. This pattern was repeated for FOUR days. Each day he greeted us in the morning and wanted to play. Then, on the fifth day- Squeaky was gone. Hooray (we hope)! I for one imagine Squeaky flying through the cottonwoods with his squirrel friends- stopping by the river for an morning thirst quencher and then sleeping the days away in a safe, tiny hollow, way up in the tree tops. Don’t you?

Catherine & Andy Part II





As the weather turns a bit blustery today, I had to look at my (point and shoot) pictures from this wonderful wedding. Such a sunny, blue sky day filled with so much community love. The bride and groom started on a “little” post wedding backpacking trip right after leaving Spring Creek Ranch. They are hiking up Ross Lake in the North Cascades National Park and heading toward Canada. I hope that they have sunny skies above them. I bet they do.

Catherine & Andy Part I

My most heartfelt congratulations to a wonderful couple! Catherine and Andy’s wedding was full of beautiful details- potato stamped banners and table cards, handmade fans and handwritten blessings, a foot washing, great live music, a children’s puppet show complete with hand felted Waldorf inspired puppets (beautiful Marsha- really), get-to-know you games, cupcakes made by a bestfriend- oh, and plenty of bright blue skies. More pictures coming soon, I promise.





Into the Wild

Inter-species love. Can you see it? Not with the human child. Well ok, there is some of that going on as well.
Can you see it now? Tigey spends his nights curled up underneath Squeaky’s furry warmth and when we take them out to play together they still like to stay close- well that is until recently.
When we first took Tigey in, I honestly wasn’t sure he was going to live. He was weak and tired and didn’t take his dropper “bottle” very well. So, we put him on a heating pad and made sure to offer him milk every few hours. In a day or two he was strong enough to live with Squeaky and the real bonding happened.

Now, Tigey is racing about and it is time for him to go back to the wild.
Maeve got to officially “release” Tigey, since she has always insisted that she was his MAMA! And when she would ask for Tigey to be taken out of his cage, she would say, “Tigey needs ME, I am his Mama.”
There you go, Tigey. Back in the wild to forage and play and have some new adventures.

House Warming





Working and working on the new website and still loving my www.ArthurShwab.com photos! We had our first cut of hay this week, an exciting wedding is coming up next week and we’re moving into high planning gear for the North Cascades Old Time Fiddle Contest! Come on in July, we are ready for you!