Last spring we put a lot of sweat, tears, and dollars into adding concrete,landscaping, and other nice outdoor accents to our home. This year, we've been enjoying it as we watched our new trees make it through the heavy snow, blossom, and fill out. We set out our patio furniture back in March, and have been enjoying the fruits of our hard work on many warm evenings already- while we sit out, relax and eat dinner. My hatred for squirrels began in March, when I caught one of the ugly little rodents completely tearing into the top of one of my chairs. Apparently, he couldn't find enough warm material in nature to build a sufficient nest in our trees. So, he decided to take our brand new, wal-mart special, dining set chair cushions apart. I was enraged! But, over the months, after many failed attempts with a BB gun to rid ourselves of the problem, I have been dealing with it and thinking about beginning to make repairs as soon as I knew they were done gathering their nesting material. Well, yesterday afternoon, as I sat on my lopsided, no head-rest chair watching the kids play, I noticed my chair stuffing hanging from the trees in various spots. How nice. The squirrels are hot now, no need for the added insulation. They're just throwing it back at me. Mocking me.
As I was observing this, thinking, "I guess I can get started on repairing the chairs..." Wes stopped by on his way to another job. He popped his head out the back door and kind of grimaced and said, "What happened out front?" I said, "We haven't been out there today, what's going on?" He said, "Oh- the kids didn't run into the tree?" I said- "I saw the deer family out there earlier- but that's it." So, we all headed out front to see that, not only did the deer completely shred all the leaves off our beautiful fruitless plum, but- just to add insult to injury, went ahead and ripped the tree in two. There it lay, lifeless. All I could think was, "Man, Wes needs to get back into hunting."
Here was our tree last summer, all happy behind the boys as they got back from their ride. This year- it was thriving- even fuller after the harsh winter! I never even got a picture of it :(
Poor, sad tree.
4 comments:
You guys need to get a real dog! Anne Marie get a paint ball gun, it wont kill the deer, but I don't think they will like getting shot. I've seen that squirrel and you better keep an eye on Owen or that squirrel will carry him off too. Good Luck.
Oh my goodness! That gave me a good chuckle.
I can't believe the squirrels are just tossing your chair stuffing back at you. That's so ruuuude!
I agree, a real dog or aggressive paint ball counter attack will work!
The deer and birds (and probably squirrels and elk and javelinas too) destroy our apple tree. They pluck off every flower as soon as they bloom in the spring. We've NEVER had ONE apple. Grr.
Seriously- you guys are right. Bo is a super dog when it comes to relaxing on the couch and putting up with the kids. But I cannot light a fire under him to get him out there to chase these intruders away!
I'll work on obtaining a paintball gun, but I'm a terrible shot- I'm sure one of my kids or the house will be a casualty if I were the one doing the shooting.
You could always go the Steel Magnolias route and fire an arrow covered with lit firecrackers into the squirrel tree. Though, fire danger wise, you might get in big trouble....
Why can't the squirrels move out and let the Keebler elves move in...at least they'll pelt your yard with delicious cookies.
Mmmm. E.L. Fudge.
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