Can you say Tame?

Can you say Tame?

Originally published 2012 by Phyllis Irene Radford

We feed the birds.  A cache of sunflower seeds resides in the biggest plastic bucket we own right beside the back door.  During bear season—April to November—we bring the feeders in at sunset.  Bears don’t just steal the seeds, they trash the feeders.

This winter we’ve had raccoons and squirrels slurping seeds out of the feeder, so we moved it another foot away from the deck.  Slowed the raccoons down but not the squirrels.  They climb the post and cling upside down.

Now it seems we’ve adopted a new family of hungry critters.

Mama and her 2 babies who were new in April.  Who knew that deer like sunflower seeds?

This morning my dh stomped onto the deck in his bathrobe and slippers and removed the feeder.  The deer didn’t move.  Then they stood and glared at him through the glass doors for a half hour until guilt hit him square in the gut.  He put the feeder out again.

Sigh.  I guess we budget a lot more money for sunflower seeds this winter.

Here’s Mr. Chessie objecting to the deer steal seeds from HIS birds.  His tail is 3 times its normal bushiness

Phyllis Irene Radford is a founding member of the Book View Café.  Though raised in the seaports of America she was born in Portland, Oregon and has lived in and around the city since her junior year in high school.  She thrives in the damp and loves the tall trees.