I told my wife, an avid gardner, that I would write this blog. She has a chip on her shoulder about people feeding squirrels. We have a conflict of sorts. She likes to garden and has a green thumb. I like to feed the squirrels. This fellow below I consider to be one of my dependents -- although in all honesty I am still arguing with the IRS about the legality of that deduction, his having four legs and a bushy tail and all.
The big problem the wife has is gardening competition from squirrels. It is not that they eat her stuff. What they do is plant, plant, plant. We have struck a compromise. Over the years, experiments have found that if you give the squirrels either sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, or a mix of the two, they sit right there and chow down. All they leave is chaff. On the other hand, if you give them peanuts in the shell -- most commonly sold as squirrel food -- they will 100% of the time take them out and bury them. I guess in their tiny little squirrel minds, a peanut in a shell is a better thing to store underground and save for a rainy day. Bottom line: If you feed the squirrels, skip the peanuts in shells. Give them some squirrel fast food that they do not feel obligated to stash in the pantry. Follow this advice and you will have fewer volunteer peanut trees littering your pots, lawn, west garden, east garden, south garden, north garden, patio, gutters, etc. Another one of my federal tax deductions. Steven L. Smith Bellingham WA Home Inspections
Check out "This Day In History" -- music and vintage television from the 1950's through the 1980's. I enjoy writing these articles because they take me back to my days in radio broadcasting. Click on Elvis' gold record, below, to revisit those golden hits of yesteryear.
