And now it's time for Church Chat . . .

Hello, I’m the Church Lady and this is ‘Church Chat’. Since squirrels do not hibernate, they are just dormant during winter to preserve energy, I therefore took a closer look at these rats with a bushy tail that were in my backyard this past winter. I noticed that the squirrels around here liked to eat the birdseed that I put out for the poor birds who do not hibernate or fly south. Well, isn't that special? It really ticked me off how the squirrels like to bully their way into taking all of the birdseed and not leaving any for the birds. Who told them that they could do that? Now, who could it be? Could it be ... SATAN? (haunting echo)

Well, let’s examine this more closely, shall we? Hmmmmmmmm? We have these big fat squirrels that hog the birdseed and chase the birds away so they can’t have any. The squirrels then scamper off leaving the poor birds hungry. That means that liiiiiiiittle ‘ole me has to go out in the cold, unlock the shed, and put more birdseed in the birdfeeder. In retaliation the squirrels come back with vengeance and scarf up the birdseed again. Yes, it’s a vicious cycle and I had to stop this toot sweet! Yes, indeedy!

So I loaded up my trusty Red Ryder BB gun and let those little demons have it! Tee hee! It was more fun than taking those plastic flowers from that neighbor’s yard and burning them in my backyard fire pit (out of sight, out of mind)! I could actually stand in my house with the backdoor cracked and pop ‘em a good one whenever I felt like it. I didn’t get cold nor did my feet get wet. It was so much fun that they should make this an Olympic event!

Unfortunately, Hubby noticed I was having waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too much fun and using waaaaaaaaaaaay too many BBs so took matters into his own hands. This spring he bought me a new bird feeder that is squirrel proof. Yes, you read that right! Squirrel proof. He put the feeder on a pole and stuck it in a bucket with concrete. He then dug a hole in our yard and put it in the ground.

How can a bird feeder be squirrel proof you ask? Well, when a squirrel climbs onto the weight-sensitive perch, a trap door closes off access to the seed. The perch's weight settings are adjustable, so you can also keep unwanted birds, such as those big fat disgusting crows, from using your feeder. The setting can be adjusted so it is not too sensitive yet sensitive enough that squirrels cannot get to the seed.

I can tell you I was one happy camper. Yes, indeedy! The birds ate when they wanted and what fell on the ground the squirrels scarfed up. Everything was honky dory until I noticed that those pesky squirrels were digging in the yard and made a HUGE hole around the base of the bird feeder. The trench is 6 inches deep and when it rains it fills up with water and it’s like a moat around a castle.

I can just imagine what my Hubby who is an engineer will come up with to stop this squirrel nonsense once and for all.