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Butch Furse
Another 40-pound bag of sunflower seeds...and the crisis continues. What began as the simple feeding of the birds has expanded to the feeding not only unwanted birds, but squirrels and our two dogs. If that isn’t bad enough, the Betterhalf has threatened to go on strike if I bring home any more sunflower seeds for our bird feeder that has unfortunately expanded to become a cafeteria for the area wildlife armies.
Just what is the crisis we’re referring to that could cause a strike from the Betterhalf? We’re working on 62 years of marriage (My deceased father-in–law would not believe it and our friends wonder how it has lasted this long). Now let’s get to the point.
Squirrels have become the big thugs and obviously are now pretty big. Outside of a few black birds, I don’t mind feeding my fine feathered friends particularly during the winter and spring. However, the squirrels pick the meat from the sunflower seeds and scatter the shells on the ground below the feeder where the dogs have taken a liking to those shells. That’s where the Betterhalf’s attitude has been aired.
You see when birds eat well, squirrels eat well, and dogs snack on sunflower shells. Those activities all have merged and have been called to my attention by the Betterhalf. She pointed out that the discarded sunflower seeds from the digging squirrels have killed grass under the feeder and sunflower sprouts are breaking ground on their way to become an additional flower in her backyard.
The Betterhalf also pointed out that the birds are now pooping on the deck, its railings, benches and grill.
Then she brought up the dog problem. Since the dogs began eating sunflower shells the additional fiber has dramatically increased doggy-do throughout the backyard. And as all husbands know if you have an unhappy wife at home the atmosphere can become challenging, particularly in our case where she does the yard mowing and I do the trimming.
Hopefully we can sidestep the crisis by following a couple of her ultimatums. Move the bird feeder to the vacant lot behind our home; get a new bird feeder; or simply change to another type of feed instead of sunflower seeds.
If those “sidesteps” don’t work, I’ll help by picking up the doggy-do before the Betterhalf mows.
RL Furse is publisher emeritus of the News-Register
