RESCUE

Look who I found swimming in Abbie's wading pool outside our front door. He wasn't havingany fun, though. He was moving slowly, taking "float" breaks, obviously exhausted after swimming for quite a while. I lifted him out. He wasn't alive by much. He lay on his side gasping slowly, his eyes closed. He felt cold. I brought him indoors, dried him off, wrapped him in a washcloth, and sat in front of the ceramic heater (shown) with him. After a few minutes I unwrapped him. He was breathing better and had started shivering, but still just lay there with his eyes closed. I wrapped him up and held him in front of the heater some more. When I next unwrapped him, I put him on he floor. He stood for a couple seconds, then fell over on his side, and his four little paws swam slowly, which broke my heart... he thought he was still in the water :-( I wrapped him up and warmed him some more. He started keeping his eyes open, looking at me. I set him on the floor again and he didn't fall over, but didn't move and was still shivering. I held him on my lap a few more minutes, stroking him with my finger; he was so still and accepting and sweet, I briefly pondered trying to keep him as a pet. Then he tried to run away. When I tried to wrap him up to restrain him, cheeky little bugger bit me. (Quite a young chipmunk, no skin break.) So much for the pet idea. He's a wild animal. I considered him cured, managed to wrap him without getting bitten again, and took him outside. He ran bristling up the arm of my jacket and hid underneath its collar. I had to take my jacket off and shake it out to get rid of him. He ran off as if the cat were after him. Total recovery, apparently.