Pesky Squirrel

As you have no doubt guessed, we love birds.  Love to feed them, love to hear them, love to watch them, love to have them take bird baths...love, love, love. We've been really lucky here in our "new" yard with having birds visit our bird feeder.  We have a plethora of birdies that come to our feeders. --Or at least we did. Lately, though, we are having trouble keeping the feeders full.  We thought, "Yep, those birdies like the food!"

Turns out it's not the birdies that have eaten all of the food. It is a pesky squirrel.  Or rather several pesky squirrels.  The ring leader is Pesky himself. Once on the feeder he simply sits and eats for hours.  --Maybe not hours, but certainly longer than necessary to fill his little belly.  After seeing Pesky for the first time, over the next few days we started to count the little furry fellas.  There were two then three.  Before we knew it there were five!

So, off to the Wild Birds Unlimited store we go. To purchase a baffle. Once home we add the baffle to the bird stand thinking "Okay...that'll teach ya!" Less than an hour later...dang squirrel on the feeder.   

This squirrel is brash, I tell ya, brash! He's on the feeder almost every morning now.  When I knock on the window to scare him he barely wiggles his ears. When we open the bedroom window to yell at him we actually hear him giggle! When we go to the back door to walk the dog we stick our head out and yell "Get off there squirrel!"  --No reaction. Nothing. Hubby walks down the back door steps, still nothing. Hubby has to get halfway to the feeder before the squirrel takes him seriously. Hubby moves toward Pesky making cowboy "YAH!" sounds before the squirrel to leaves the premises.

(Sidebar: I love me a cowboy.) 

So when I saw the squirrel on the feeder the absolute same afternoon that we installed the squirrel BAFFLE...I couldn't believe it. How rude! I mean, let us think we've stumped you for at least a full afternoon. I was on the back porch when I saw Pesky on the feeder. I was actually sweeping the porch when I saw him. I may have looked a little crazy when I came outside. First I opened the door and yelled, "Don't make me come out there!" Nothing. Then I yelled, "Don't make me come down these steps!" Still nothing. So I came out, broom waiving in the air screaming, “I mean it! I mean it!"

So we moved the bird feeder.  Or, hubby moved it. 

Next morning...Pesky is eating from the now moved birdfeeder. The feeder that has a baffle and has been moved. We are starting to feel crazy. Crazy like Carl Spackler, the greenskeeper in Caddyshack. Spackler who is tasked with getting rid of the gophers that are tearing up the golf course. Spackler will tell you that this is no easy task.

Carl Spackler:  You must know your enemy, and in this case, my enemy is a varmint. And a varmint will never quit - ever.

So, Hubby, knowing his enemy is a varmint that will never quit...sits in wait to see how Pesky is still getting on the feeder. I'm at work about mid-morning when I get the following text: "Caught in the act-squirrel jumped from lawn chair to bird feeder! The chair has been moved. Squirrel now sitting in a tree and contemplating next move."

I couldn't be prouder.