Mean Squirrels

Mean Squirrels

            Everything gets fed in my garden and I mean everything from the squirrels, birds, foxes, deer, crows, cats, dogs, bees, badgers, hedgehogs (hopefully, haven’t seen evidence yet), people, fish, and just about anything else that runs through the garden gets food of some sort.  Sometimes it’s a little tricky spacing out the food bowls and feeders so that unfriendly sorts do not tangle up together.  I think we do a fairly good job of it though and most of the animals are happy and love running around the garden and it’s quite fun to watch them.

            That said, I have some very mean squirrels in the garden.  They are very good at stealing the birdseed and such.  I put out peanuts for them but when the peanuts are gone, they come after the seed and I have had to put out new feeders because they have chewed through all the plastic ones.  They’ll even sit in the bowls and eat the mealworms which did surprise me a bit.  Now they have stooped to a new low in meanness.

            I have gnomes in my garden.  I love my gnomes.  They stand around the fish pond and watch the fish (although the fish are still missing in action, hiding in the muck) and watch the lily pads grow and basically are not bothering anyone.  Four of my gnomes were solar light gnomes.  They have been in the garden for a long time and finally we are getting enough light, some days, for them to glow at night. 

            The squirrels though!  Mean critters.  If I have not gotten out there in the morning with a fresh batch of peanuts, they are going over and kicking the gnomes into the pond!  I have had to pull out gnomes from the pond several afternoons.  Once in the pond, the solar gnomes don’t work so very well anymore.  There is a gnome with a wheelbarrow too and he gets peanuts in his wheelbarrow every day.  By the early afternoon, his wheelbarrow is empty.  By the early evening, the squirrels have kicked him over.  I have had to move all of my gnomes away from the pond because they can’t swim.  The wheelbarrow gnome has to fend for himself.  The squirrels are going to have to learn to play nicely with the gnomes or they are going to find less peanuts out there, not more!