I enjoy very much feeding the wild animals. Especially the friendly chipmunks. One of these creatures has grown quite friendly.  His name is Buddy and he has become almost a pest. He has learned that if he sits and watches the door he may get another handout when I exit. Now, I don’t mind it when he stands on his hind legs and looks up at me sort of asking for more sunflower seeds. As I reach down he jumps into my hand and begins to fill his mouth. He will even let me pet him if I am feeling a bit friendly. There are quite a few of his friends hanging around. Each one has sort of staked out their territory. Buddy of course has chosen the entry railing and the bottom step of the greenhouse. This step is close to the cans containing the seeds. He makes sure that as soon as I take the cover off the can he gets the first handful. Buddy is the only one that I have named. They really do look alike. But, Buddy has a small scar on his

back. This allows me to pick him out of the bunch.  Each individual guards their area. At times, there is quite a bit of disagreement between the creatures. Normally I do nothing to upset this small fact of life. But, along comes the red squirrel. I do have a problem letting the red squirrels hang around. They become quite a destructive clan. I would like to say it is because they are red haired creatures, but that is not the reason. I like some red haired creatures, you know like the red fox.  Once in a while I kinda like the red haired ladies.  But not often. I surely do not treat the ladies as I do the squirrels.  I use the bb gun on the squirrels to convince them to stay away. Maybe I should have used this on the ladies, but that is another story.

Having all these little creatures hanging around sort of calls other hungry creatures to venture by once in a while. One summer we had a couple small hawks come by hunting . It was quite interesting watching the air battles between them and other birds. The bigger the animals we feed, the bigger the hunters came. One summer, we had the big Goshawk use the feeding grounds as his hunting area. He successfully made a meal out of some of the ducks.  It took quite a bit of convincing to keep him away.  It just didn’t seem right to feed any creature only to have them become someone else’s meal. But, that is the way of life. The big fish eat the little fish. Even the deer and the bear that comes by have creatures sneaking through the woods to make a meal out of them.  I suppose I could try and scare them away with my pellet gun. But I am sure some of them carry a bit bigger gun. Now, there is one sneaky creature that I like but don’t like them hunting the chipmunks. Every once in a while I see three cats out here stalking the chippies. This morning was one of those days. I opened the door and hollered in the most scary voice for them to leave. Of course, that is not exactly how I said it. But they took off as though the place was on fire. I stepped aside and started laughing. I thought that is exactly how a cranky old mountain man would act.   No wonder some folks are afraid to visit.   LOL

Have a fine day now folks….  Watch out for those grey haired cob’s  Ken White


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