My back patio

Being a good neighbor (for the most part).

I had slightly more than three weeks in between camping trips.  While I was home, I paid bills, spent time with friends, cleaned the house, cleaned and restocked the trailer, and enjoyed time on my back patio.

By now, mid-October, it was cool out even during the day but my Geraniums were still blooming like crazy.  The trick that I use to get several months of blooms out of Geraniums is to let the dirt in the hanging planter box dry out completely, bone dry, in between waterings.  In addition, once a month, I water the Geraniums in the hanging planter box with a solution of 1 teaspoon Epsom salts, 1 teaspoon bone meal, and 2 cups of water.

The Hummingbirds sure love them!

And these American Goldfinch love the bird seed I put out.  They love the seed so much that they hardly look up when I walk over near them.

Eventually one of them looked up, but didn’t leave or sound an alarm.

I stood near the feeder until two others flew in, then I started chirping at them.  (I really hoped the human neighbors weren’t watching!)  When I chirped, these two (above) looked right at me.  We repeated this trick several times before they flew off.

The American Goldfinch below was particularly handsome.

The grey squirrels that attend my back patio are very active, skittering to and fro all day long, sometimes gathering food, sometimes wrestling with each other or chasing each other, sometimes just hanging out.

Watching the squirrel in the photo above had me laughing out loud.  There were three squirrels that had been doing their darndest to try to figure out how to get to the bird seed in that squirrel-proof feeder.

They would climb up that 4×4 in the fence (and fall off of it), or leap from a nearby plant (and miss the feeder entirely), or try to climb down onto the top of the feeder (but couldn’t because of the lack of footing) … until this smart guy figured THIS out! (above)  By simply hanging from that top bar, the squirrel could get a purchase on the top of the feeder with its front feet, then drop down onto the top of the feeder and then swing the feeder back and forth until it disgorged its entire contents onto the ground below.  Voilà!  Success!

Or so they thought.  It took me a few days to figure out a way to stop them, but figure it out I did.  I slathered slippery slidey petroleum jelly all over that top bar, and on the wires holding the feeder, and all over the top of the feeder … and then I sat inside by my window and waited.  I didn’t have long to wait.

The next squirrel came traipsing along the top of the fence happy-go-lucky, turned and put its rear feet on that top bar, slid around quite a bit but managed to get its front paws on the top part of the wire and then … whoooooosh!  The poor squirrel slid all the way off that bar and down the wires and clean off the top of the feeder and was in mid-air before it knew what happened.  It landed safely on the ground, unhurt though obviously surprised.  I really did laugh out loud.  🙂  Each of the three squirrels tried several times, but each one was more timid with each try.

I kept slathering petroleum jelly on those parts for a month or two.  Within a couple of months, I noticed the squirrels weren’t even trying any more.  Today the squirrels still forage for bird seed on the ground under the feeder and they still play and romp here, so this is still a safe place for them and that makes me happy.  But they don’t look twice at that feeder anymore.  My being a good neighbor and helping the wildlife is one thing, but having a good laugh made my day!  🙂