APB on Chip and Dale

Where are all the chipmunks and squirrels that should be packing away acorns and nuts for winter???? The front deck has become a hardhat zone. I was sitting out there the other afternoon, reading a book and enjoying a cup of tea (it's not ALWAYS wine, guys!) and was constantly dinged with falling acorns. A tiny acorn falling from 20-30 feet hits the deck with a very audible crack. It hits ones knee with a similar audible crack, followed by a short burst of expletives that can't be written here. Like my friend Susan says, My Momma Comes Here.

I have seen nary a squirrel since I got here. I never saw any squirrels in Sugar Land, TX, but then I didn't expect to. There were few big ole trees where I lived. Just new sticks in the ground. We did spot deer, armadillos, rabbits, mice, rats, skunks, snakes and the occasional feral pig but no squirrels. In Mandeville, LA, we had a mini forest behind our house, so we had LOTS of squirrels, along with raccoons, foxes, and other small varmints. A major sport was watching the squirrels try to defeat the anti squirrel mechanisms on our bird feeders. Cajun squirrels are pretty crafty.Those barrel jobs you put on the post so they can't climb up? Took 'em a week to find a tree branch that hung sort of close to the feeder and perfect a death leap to the platform containing the treasured seeds.

The special Canadian made spring loaded feeder we attached to a tree trunk was a bit more trouble for them. That one took almost a year. Conquest involved carefully approaching the feeder from above, in a head down, claws dug in position. Carefully, the squirrel would move on to the little roof area, then finally hang on the spring loaded bar, shaking the seeds loose for his waiting friends below. The funniest thing I ever saw was the day a raccoon decided if a squirrel could do it, he could too. But he got stuck in that head down position just inches above 'the prize'. Needless to say, he eventually took a tumble and never attempted that maneuver again.

So what to do? I've swept loads of the suckers off the deck into a growing pile on the hill beside the house. In plain view of any industrious squirrels who might want easy pickings. Timmy Tip Toes, where are you??? Winter's coming! The paper said today that a La Nina is forming that will bring us an unusually wet and cold winter. Tell you what, I'll save a pile for you under the deck…and hope they don't sprout into more trees!