Squirrels are pretty interesting animals. I remember seeing something on PBS years ago - this man tried "squirrel proofing" his bird feeders. He kept adding various barriers, he'd add 1, the squirrel would figure it out, then he'd add another. He gave up after 12 barriers.
The bus stop near the pharmacy I used to go to had a shelter under an oak tree. In the fall, it sounded like I was being fired upon from all the acorns that the squirrels were dropping above me.
This little guy is so cute...really alert watching something! We don't have very many in our area of the city! Have seen one or two this year but that is all!
These guys that look so cute are really terrible monsters. I have them in my front yard around the bird feeders and they wont leave when I come out to holler at them. I even hit one with a rake handle and he just looked at me. A friend offered to electrify my post and I am thinking about it.
You have my sympathies. I have chipmunks, red squirrels and grey squirrels so I have sunflowers germinating in clumps all over my flower beds.
JoyceRogers
Sep 27, 2014
Try greasing up the post with vasoline. :) There's a video on Facebook of a squirrel trying every which way to get up a pole to a bird feeder - he just slides down every time! lol!
My uncle used to feed birds at his house in Austin, Texas. They were so much fun to watch...they would sit on the electric lines above and they would come down by type of bird: blackbirds, sparrows, finches, redbirds, etc. etc. They were very organized! Then the squirrels would come in and mess up the party. My uncle finally built them their own feeding platform on the tree near the bird feeders and they would play and eat very happily on their platform and leave the birds alone! It was quite entertaining to watch the whole show!
pixipixil
Sep 27, 2014
I tried the Vaseline thing. Didn't work. Must depend on the diameter of the pole.
Can't afford to feed both. Anyway there are tons of trees around with nuts and cones galore so I have no intention of feeding them. That will just cause an explosion in the squirrel population. I'm glad it worked for your dad. Maybe in Texas where it's drier there is a chance of it working.
I think something has scared the squirrels away (my neighbor's cat who sits under the feeder and jumps at the birds until I catch him at it? )as I haven't seen them in a while but the chipmunks are always around.
aknan
Sep 29, 2014
I have a recipe for squirrel stew.....
cindyj28
Sep 30, 2014
Sorry, but I don't think I could actually kill anything. much less eat it.
pixipixil
Sep 30, 2014
I tried killing one of our Bantam roosters that got old. It was a horrible experience and I hated the smell so much. Even after stewing him in a crock pot he was tough and inedible. Never did that again! I know that isn't your point cindy. You are kind hearted but we were quite poor then and could not aford sentiment.
cindyj28
Oct 1, 2014
Oh, yes, pixipixil, I do understand. We were poor too when I was young. My brother hunted and I am sure I ate what ever my mom cooked, she even raised chickens so yes I understand, but I mean who I am today. My granddaughter, being a vegan, would like me to quit meat totally.
pixipixil
Oct 1, 2014
Jesus appeared to Peter(or was it Paul? ) anyway He told him in a vision all foods are good so I wouldn't worry too much. Thankfully we no longer have to endure all the blood and guts of slaughter.
I miss my home In the Catskills--mountains, trees and a river in the back yard. How I loved to see the fall come and drive those mountain roads and smell the wood stoves and see the chimney smoke curling through the mist.
nlbuchanan
Sep 27, 2014
I am blessed to live where I grew up. I had about ten years of living in various parts of the USA - coast to coast. Then I scurried on home where I belong!
ginaSalonica
Sep 28, 2014
I am Greek and I lived in Manchester for a year for a postgraduate course..Now I live in the city, I can see the sea but not squirrels...we have squirrels in Greece but not in the cities....
pixipixil
Sep 28, 2014
What did you study, Gina?
ginaSalonica
Sep 28, 2014
In Manchester I got an MEd in Educational Leadership and School Improvement. My undergraduate degree is on Mondern Greek language and literature
pixipixil
Sep 28, 2014
Did you get to put what you learned into practice? I have an MSEd in music education and a BS in fine art with a minor in education. I did get to use them a little but not much. I tend to hop around so I touch on things on and off.
ginaSalonica
Sep 28, 2014
I work as a part-time teacher of Greek as a foreign language, I can't use everything I learned in practice of course. there were some modules though (for example Difference and Education, Inclusion Policies etc), which I found useful...
pixipixil
Sep 29, 2014
Yes. Those issues are especially important these days. It's so easy for any of us to feel excluded.
My first (and almost last) traching job was high school art. I was low man on the totem and this school allowed teachers to refuse students they didn't want so I got a number of troubled ones. I'm very small and I had one fellow the size of z bear who was supposed to have had 6 nervous breakdowns. Occassionally he'd stand on his chair and shout. I knew I could not effect anything positive by comfronting him so I let him shout since it was an art class which did not require quiet for work to get done. One day one of the popular boys (he was a handsome jock) came up to me furious complaining why didn't I discipline this boy from shouting. I knew this was an explosive situation developing but I gave the jock the evil eye and said "Are you not able to do your work? " Thankfully he backed down. Now in NY you could not tell another student about the problems this "bear" had so I went to the guidance counselor who could address it and he followed up. How do I know? The jock and the bear became buddies.
The bus stop near the pharmacy I used to go to had a shelter under an oak tree. In the fall, it sounded like I was being fired upon from all the acorns that the squirrels were dropping above me.
My uncle used to feed birds at his house in Austin, Texas. They were so much fun to watch...they would sit on the electric lines above and they would come down by type of bird: blackbirds, sparrows, finches, redbirds, etc. etc. They were very organized! Then the squirrels would come in and mess up the party. My uncle finally built them their own feeding platform on the tree near the bird feeders and they would play and eat very happily on their platform and leave the birds alone! It was quite entertaining to watch the whole show!
Can't afford to feed both. Anyway there are tons of trees around with nuts and cones galore so I have no intention of feeding them. That will just cause an explosion in the squirrel population. I'm glad it worked for your dad. Maybe in Texas where it's drier there is a chance of it working.
I think something has scared the squirrels away (my neighbor's cat who sits under the feeder and jumps at the birds until I catch him at it? )as I haven't seen them in a while but the chipmunks are always around.
My first (and almost last) traching job was high school art. I was low man on the totem and this school allowed teachers to refuse students they didn't want so I got a number of troubled ones. I'm very small and I had one fellow the size of z bear who was supposed to have had 6 nervous breakdowns. Occassionally he'd stand on his chair and shout. I knew I could not effect anything positive by comfronting him so I let him shout since it was an art class which did not require quiet for work to get done. One day one of the popular boys (he was a handsome jock) came up to me furious complaining why didn't I discipline this boy from shouting. I knew this was an explosive situation developing but I gave the jock the evil eye and said "Are you not able to do your work? " Thankfully he backed down. Now in NY you could not tell another student about the problems this "bear" had so I went to the guidance counselor who could address it and he followed up. How do I know? The jock and the bear became buddies.