A Sad Tail
There were millions of them.
Okay, eight, maybe nine.
I looked out the window and saw this angry gang of squirrels
circling the deck.
Okay, there were a bunch of squirrels around the tree
looking for food.
Honestly, it looked like a scene from an Alfred Hitchcock
movie. Well, that one was about birds. These are squirrels.
But that's why I write. I have a great imagination.
Anyway, I decided to hang a wooden squirrel feeder on the
tree next to our hot tub. At first it was wonderful watching
the two squirrels that lived in the tree feed each morning.
They learned to open and close the top of the feeder and sit
perched on the small ledge that was attached to it.
I was proud of myself. Not only was I feeding the birds, but
this year I decided to help those fluffy little creatures
that have brought so much joy into my life.
But then...millions showed up.
I mean, they must have told the entire east coast there was
free food available in my yard.
At first I really didn't mind it. But then I made the
mistake of not filling the feeder one day. I came home and
found the wooden lid destroyed. Wood chips lay on the ground
at the base of the tree. The sides of the box had been
chewed, too. I stood there speechless.
This is the Hitchcock part...I heard three or four of them
up in the tree. They were squawking and wiggling their tails
as they looked down at me.
"Where's the food? We want more food...or else!" they said.
I ran in the house.
"Oh, come on. They're harmless little furry creatures." I
thought to myself.
So, I took the bag of feed and filled the box. I repaired
the lid the next day and all was well.
That is until I ran out of food. The new lid was destroyed,
the lid on my plastic garbage can had a hole in it big
enough to fit a squirrel. The edges of the can were torn
apart leaving pieces of plastic all over the driveway.
I decided it was best to just throw the food on the ground
around the base of tree. I removed the front of the feeder
box so they would know it was empty.
The next day I found more holes in the garbage can, ten
squirrels, eight doves, six finches, two blue jays and four
cardinals waiting for me.
"I can take on the birds, but the squirrels have me out
numbered," I said.
I made up my mind right then and there, that I would buy
metal cans, remove the squirrel feeder and only put food out
when the snow is heavy or the temperatures dropped below
freezing.
I was angry, hurt, and frustrated.
"I was just trying to be nice!" I yelled up the tree.
Just then, my son called me. As soon as I had the chance I
began telling him this horror story. Well, my silly attempt
to help out mother nature.
I stood looking out the window as we spoke.
"My God, it is scary. Keith, really. As I'm speaking with
you, I see five squirrels climbing down the big tree in
front of a house down the road. They are jumping from branch
to branch and they are headed this way," I said.
Suddenly, without warning, they darted across the road. A
car came flying around the corner and...by heart sunk.
"Keith, one of them just got hit by a car."
I see this all the time. It's a part of life here. Houses,
trees, squirrels, cars and trucks. They just don't mix. But
I can't stand to see it happen.
My heart was pounding. "Oh, God."
I said goodbye to my son and stood there looking off in the
distance where the squirrel lie in the road.
I sighed.
In a last effort, a last response to life, the squirrel
began wiggling it's tail in the air. I've seen it a hundred
times before. I'm told they use it to signal each other or
express themselves. Its little tail was waving as the others
ran up a tree.
I grabbed my binoculars to see if perhaps it was just
slightly injured. I'd run down there and get him off the
road. It stopped moving.
It was dead.
It absolutely ruined my day.
I watched the other squirrels as they sat in the nearby
tree. I wondered silly thoughts of "do they know?" "Do they
realize what had happened?"
I wasn't angry at them any more. I realized that I was
trying to help them by providing food. I expected that, like
some fantasy scene in a Disney movie, they'd wait patiently
to be fed each day as the birds sang and Bambi and Snow
White played nearby.
They are animals with animal instincts. They were in search
of food in a place I invited them to and when they couldn't
find it, they went looking for it in my garbage.
Yes, I scattered feed at the base of the tree right
afterwards. The two resident squirrels came rushing down our
tree. I watched them from our rear kitchen window.
"Be safe!" I whispered to them.
One wiggled its tail.
But it was a sad tail, indeed.
"I believe in you!" Bob Perks
Bob@BobPerks.com