by Brenda J. Christie
Like the Hatfields and the McCoys, I have this long running feud,with a squirrel. The battleground is my garden. Not sure what I did to this particular squirrel, but he sure does seem angry.
Last year he ate all the cucumbers and tomatoes. So this year, I only planted tomatoes. He ate the tomatoes and the wires to the air conditioner right before a heat wave. In fact, it wasn't good enough that he ate the wires, he decided to make a home right there in the air conditioner.
We're not really friends. One rare day when I was relaxing in my yard, he sat perched on the railing, just looking at me with his beady little squirrel eyes. When he looked like he would propel himself off the rail onto the table where I sat, I just picked up a stone from that same table, threw it at him and knocked him off the rail.
That's when I started seeing squirrels all along the path where I walk Frankie. You may have read about Frankie from my Jakk Blog. In that same Jakk Blog you may see a story about Jakk being stalked by all the neighborhood cats after he killed this little kitchen which happened to be in the yard. If not, I'll write about that adventure soon.
The yard has become a very popular place. I think that dagnabbit squirrel invited his raccoon friends to have a lawn party. Actually, they seem to hang out in my neighbor's yard, but even that is a little too close. I would timidly look through the thick overgrowth, hoping to not see anything but weeds.
Little did I know, raccoons also hang out in trees. One of my neighbors enlightened me to this fact. So now, in addition to looking at the thick overgrown weeds, keeping an eye out for squirrels flying off the railing, I have to also look up at the many trees surrounding my yard. Every rustle of the leaves could, after all, be a big fat raccoon leaping from branch to branch.
However, there is some justice in life. After the squirrel chomped down the only two ripe tomatoes I grew, he decided to do a little dance in front of the door, bushy tail flying all over the place, as if to say, "Yea, I did it. What ya gonna to about it Willis?" I imagine he sounds like Ernest Borgnine in one of the old Ten Commandment movies. Anyway, to seemingly make his point, the squirrel jumped into a planter and started digging ("take that!"), right before he jumped into - you got it - the yard with his friends the raccoons. Wonder if they're really friends. Haven't seen him since!
