David_Weatherly's Blog

Most of us have a squirrel or two around our home. But I doubt many folks have one like Gary Evers. A friend brought Rudy, as he’s now known, to Gary’s tree filled, Guilford County home, several months ago. At the time the little squirrel was barely old enough to nibble on a nut. Rather than just toss him out in the wild, the Evers family cared and nurtured the critter, bringing him into the house for safety every night until they were confident he could fend for himself. 

While inside, he made himself right at home, nesting among some fake flora atop a curio cabinet. Gary also says Rudy liked to sit on the arm of the recliner and watch NASCAR. I bet he’s a Kyle Busch fan. Get it “bush?” Anyway, the whole family got quite attached to the fuzzy tailed rodent and vice versa.

He lives outside now, but each day Gary calls him down from his giant oak tree for a snack and a little petting. He wonders what his neighbors must think as he looks up into the canopy and yells for the squirrel. He says he feels a bit like Opie from “The Andy Griffith Show,” Episode 66. That’s the one where Opie almost gets a trip to the woodshed for telling a tall tale about a strange man who walks in the treetops. As it turned out, the man was real, although he was a telephone lineman and not the magical mystical character the boy had described. Like Opie, Gary says he's often wondered if anyone would believe that he’s actually calling a squirrel named “Rudy” down from a tree. Now thanks to our story he has the proof.