Out with the Old, In with the New

     I've been having a little squirrel problem.  I bought a bird feeder when I moved in down here, and the squirrels (one morbidly obese one in particular) have decided that it is, in fact, a squirrel feeder.

The "old" decidedly not squirrel proof feeder

      I never used to understand why my mom would get so irritated at the squirrels on her bird feeders.  I figured they were just as hungry as the birds and deserved the food just as much.  Well, now I think I might finally understand.  Those cute little bastards drain the feeder so fast I can't keep up!  Not to mention they seem to paw through the food until they find what they want and scatter the rest all over my porch... along with some "gifts" in return.  How thoughtful.  So today, I decided to try and do something about this little problem.
     I woke up at 4 this afternoon, and decided to make a quick run to Walmart to grab a few things before they closed.  While there I picked up what I hope will be a more bird-exclusive feeder.

     My iphone photo doesn't really show great detail, but basically it has a wire cage around the center column where the food is.  The cage has perches on it, and if anything heavier than a bird sits on it, the strategically placed decorative leaves slide down over the openings.  Hopefully it'll work, and the birdseed in it will last for longer than a day.
     As I mentioned in my last post I picked up a new hanging basket at the farmer's market yesterday to replace my sad old dying one.  It's just a simple basket of white impatiens, but at least they're alive... for now!

     Happy 4th of July everyone, I'll be celebrating by sleeping until 4 or so and then heading into the hospital at 6PM for another crack at this whole doctor thing!  Enjoy the festivities, but be safe - just remember that a lot of hospitals are crawling with brand new docs this time of year!


UPDATE: The squirrel not only figured out how to get food out of the new feeder, the little bastard broke the damn thing!  So much for that idea...back to the drawing board.