Well, I'm sure as hell not "left"
Forty years ago I tamed a Jeffrey Pine squirrel. One day his squeaks for imported walnuts went unheeded. So he crawled up the back of the sofa I was sitting on then jumped into the middle of the newspaper I was reading. Scared the bejesus out of me.
I am a sucker for animals. Treat them like idiots and they will assume the role.
I had friends with an elderly blue heeler. Arthritis and cranky. "He'll bite your hand off!" I was warned.
Gently, ever so gently I massaged his aching joints. He groaned with pleasure. When the lady of the house returned one day and found him curled up in my lap licking my fingers for a message
She was thunderstruck. "I never would have believed this in a thousand years"
And the finches. i crushed dog food under my heel. When the dogs were finished a half dozen finches moved in. They ate their fill.
When I was late they would fly in an open doorway and give me hell. Following me around chittering and scolding me. I would go out and crush their dinner.
Pardon me for my faults.
