Post by lar on Mar 12, 2018 8:52:34 GMT -5
Sometimes a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do.
We are fortunate to have a beautiful pair of Cardinals in our neighborhood. They seem to like the trees behind the house. This weekend I decided the neighborly thing to do would be to put out feed for them. There is a bird feeder in the yard so on Saturday I filled it with a nice mixture of seeds. I wondered how long it would take the Cardinals to notice.
As it turned out, it only took the neighborhood squirrels 30 minutes or so to discover that there was a new food source available to them. Being squirrels it did not occur to them that the new food source was meant for somebody else. Squirrels have lousy manners.
As a deterrent to the seed thieves I got out my trusty Daisy Red Ryder BB gun. I didn't want to kill the squirrels. I just wanted them to know that partaking at the bird feeder was going to be a painful experience. I'm proud to say that although I've not fired my Red Ryder for quite a number of years I was able to hit what I was aiming at and the squirrel experienced quite an unexpected pain at the base of his tail. This was repeated twice more before he began to get the idea.
Apparently squirrels are smarter than I gave them credit for. After about an hour's cessation of hostilities they were back at it, apparently having reasoned that I couldn't possibly be watching them every moment. They did learn to skedaddle as soon as they heard the back door open so I took some small comfort from that.
Now the workweek has begun and I'm not around to defend my property. I fear my Cardinals are getting severely short-changed in the food department.
This bird feeding thing is becoming an expensive proposition. Now I'm going to have to order a squirrel proof feeder and a pole to sit it on.
Note to LJ: Just in case my aim deteriorates and I accidentally off one of the little buggers, I'll pack it in dry ice and send it over. You and the missus can have a nice meal of fresh (more or less) squirrel. I imagine it will be a welcome change from your usual road-kill squirrel fare.
Edit: Janice has now taken to calling me "Elmer Fudd". She seems to be amused by my efforts to teach table manners to our backyard pests.
We are fortunate to have a beautiful pair of Cardinals in our neighborhood. They seem to like the trees behind the house. This weekend I decided the neighborly thing to do would be to put out feed for them. There is a bird feeder in the yard so on Saturday I filled it with a nice mixture of seeds. I wondered how long it would take the Cardinals to notice.
As it turned out, it only took the neighborhood squirrels 30 minutes or so to discover that there was a new food source available to them. Being squirrels it did not occur to them that the new food source was meant for somebody else. Squirrels have lousy manners.
As a deterrent to the seed thieves I got out my trusty Daisy Red Ryder BB gun. I didn't want to kill the squirrels. I just wanted them to know that partaking at the bird feeder was going to be a painful experience. I'm proud to say that although I've not fired my Red Ryder for quite a number of years I was able to hit what I was aiming at and the squirrel experienced quite an unexpected pain at the base of his tail. This was repeated twice more before he began to get the idea.
Apparently squirrels are smarter than I gave them credit for. After about an hour's cessation of hostilities they were back at it, apparently having reasoned that I couldn't possibly be watching them every moment. They did learn to skedaddle as soon as they heard the back door open so I took some small comfort from that.
Now the workweek has begun and I'm not around to defend my property. I fear my Cardinals are getting severely short-changed in the food department.
This bird feeding thing is becoming an expensive proposition. Now I'm going to have to order a squirrel proof feeder and a pole to sit it on.
Note to LJ: Just in case my aim deteriorates and I accidentally off one of the little buggers, I'll pack it in dry ice and send it over. You and the missus can have a nice meal of fresh (more or less) squirrel. I imagine it will be a welcome change from your usual road-kill squirrel fare.
Edit: Janice has now taken to calling me "Elmer Fudd". She seems to be amused by my efforts to teach table manners to our backyard pests.