Squirrels Are Not Stupid!

I'm convinced that there is one squirrel in our backyard who is "special". His resiliency is incredible and his ability to outsmart me is mind-boggling! When we 1st moved into our home about 6 years ago I built a bird feeder from a 4 x 4 post with hangers to hold the feeders. I refused to buy a squirrel baffle for $30+ so I fashioned one out of scrap metal which I made into a cone and attached to the post.

The squirrels left it alone for several years. Then a new marauder came to town with guns a-blazin', anxious to beat me and get to the bird feeders. He somehow by-passed my contraption and emptied the bird feeder several times. I saw that sucker up on the top of the post and I swear he was laughing at me.

So I got some additional scrap metal and fashioned a disk 8" wider than the previous one. He figured it out about 3 days later. Then I took some more metal and built another cone under the disc. Three days later there he was, on top of the bird feeder shaking the thing so most of the seeds fell to the ground. His partners in crime were applauding him as he took his bows.

I cut slats in the disc thinking he was perhaps jumping up to the disc level....No good! I actually heard the disc metal vibrating and that's how I knew this must be a squirrel preparing for the Olympic high jump record.

This morning I pulled off the disc and raised the cone up about 8". If he beats me now I need to see a Psychiatrist because I'm an emotional wreck.

But I refuse to buy a squirrel baffle online or elsewhere!!

Tornado in Hampton

We folks in Hampton ain't used to dealing with tornadoes. And I'm not talking about our Cleaning Lady who comes every other week and works up a storm in our house. While we're getting ready for a 7pm wedding at about 5pm or so I happened to check the weather radar on my computer and I saw a strange site. I kept hearing all this nonsense about major storms coming our way. The map showed a black spot over Towson while other areas were colored orange or dark green. I looked at the map legend and the black stood for SEVERE!

A few minutes later I heard what sounded like an express freight train coming down Gypsy Lane. All of a sudden the very dark sky got a pale white. I'm thinking, this ain't good. I was convinced we had a problem when the rain, wind, and major tree branches flew by horizontally. I've never seen wind like that either while sober or not.

So now we've got confirmation that a tornado came down Gypsy Lane at 5:30pm or so on last Friday evening. I fully expected to find Brian Williams in his khaki colored war correspondent shirt waiting to interview me in my front yard. He never showed up.

Don't mess with Mother Nature (or my Cleaning Lady)!!!