Sometimes You Just Gotta Give

   With all of the property to our west being totally clear-cut, it leaves very little space for the animals that were dwelling there.  All of the dens and nests (some already containing little ones) have been destroyed and all any "slow moving" critters perished under the huge equipment.  Those that were able to escape have nowhere else to go except here.  It saddens me that greed can overtake commonsense.  Folks, we have to leave some green space for the critters of this world.  It is not our place to obliterate all of nature.

  That said, I am overrun with critters now.  They are literally starving and have taken to raiding the fruit trees and gardens.  If I learned one thing from Pop, it is important to share what foodstuffs you have so I guess that is what is happening.  It used to irk me that the squirrels would raid the birdseed that I put out each morning.  Sometimes up to ten squirrels would be squabbling over the sunflower seeds which left little for my bird friends.  I tried shooing the fluffy tailed rodents.  I tried fancy squirrel baffles.  I tried hot sauce laced birdseed.  Nothing worked...so, I embraced the little fluff-butts and ceded to their demands.  

  This afternoon, one squirrel was quite adamant about getting its belly full at my expense.  Even though I was working in the flower gardens just a few feet away, this squirrel kept coming to steal seeds.  It would grab a sunflower seed and hop up on the post to eat it.  Then, down to the seed again only to hop back up on the post.  The critter was too cute so I decided to help it out a bit.  A whole handful of seeds was placed on the post.  As soon as I started weeding again, the squirrel bounced back grabbed a seed and hopped to its post.  Imagine its surprise when it found about a cup of seeds laid out for it!  That squirrel hit the jackpot!

  If the friendly squirrel comes back again in the morning, I shall repeat the process.  Perhaps, if I feed it enough here, it will leave the tomatoes alone.  If not, I shall just have one fat squirrel on my hands!