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#1391
Robert hi ya.. I was too hyped up late ,last night to know much of anything..lol..I had been on the road a lot yesterday.. that sounded good when I wrote to you last night..
I do love squirrel and dumplings.. or smothered in the oven / gravy.. my Mom used to make it in the Spring or fall when squirrels were young ... then someone said a squirrel was just a glorified rat.. eeekkkk.. I'll say no more..
Haha! I have eaten scrawney wild rabbit, but never squirrel. I was laughing with the guys after some squirrel bites led to discussion of hunting and eating squirrel ...
I have a family ... err ... tribe of gray squirrels living in my neighborhood, sometimes in the trees in my front yard. I resorted to feeding them sunflower seeds to keep them from trashing the bird feeder I planted between the two oak treas in my front yard. It was a battle of wits to keep them out of the bird feeder. First they would just climb the pole and chase the birds away, so I put an inverted funnel on the pole to block them. Then they just jumped onto the feeder from the ground, so I raised the feeder higher. Then they climbed the oak tree and jumped onto the feeder from there. This was my real genius, I put a plastic bowl on top of the feeder and had a really good laugh watching the squirrels trying to land on the bowl. They were persistent, but they would just spin around some and hit the ground. I finally proved I was smarter than a squirrel! But I rewarded them for leaving the bird feeder alone by putting some sunflower seeds in a bowl next to the tree, especially in Winter with snow on the ground.
It is fun to watch them 'frolic', and I got to see parent squirrel teaching little junior some tree management basics.
Also yesterday, same as last year, I got to watch as three more House Wren chicks left the safety of the bird house under my window awning. The first chick was like "I'm FREE!". The second chick was not as sure, would come out of the house and look around then pop back in. The last chick ... well ... did not seem to want to be last!
It feels good to be smarter than a squirrel ...
They are clever little rascals when it comes to raiding bird feeders, Robert.....sounds like you were quite ingenious in outsmarting them though.