Game On!

As they say in sports, "Game On!". The yearly battle is in full swing with two of the biggest perps in the neighborhood - Jeff "Sticky Fingers" Squirrel and Blue "Bandit" Jay. Every year my wife and I try to be good stewards of nature and feed the ever growing number of birds which visit us. We buy copious amounts of bird seed, suet, grape jelly, thistle and so on. We spare no effort nor expense in taking care of our fine feathered friends.

In the midst of all this goodness comes an evil - it comes from the forest. The evil is familiar as it comes cloaked in stealth and deception and invades the yard every daylight minute of every day. This evil comes either by land (traveling from tree to tree), by air (swooping down from the tree tops), or both. It is insidious. This evil (in the form of Sticky Fingers and Bandit) comes for one purpose only - to strip every seed, every morsel that we have put out to feed our non-offending birds. This is war and victory must be claimed at all costs. I have used every weapon in my arsenal. I have yelled, chased, chained my loyal dog in the back yard and yes, even resorted to using my single pump BB gun. I have the tools, they have the numbers. Game on.

At the time of this writing, the battle continues to rage. Both sides are tired and are licking their wounds. My dog goes to bed every night so tired she can hardly walk up the steps. I am running out of ammunition and I search the seed catalogs for more food as the attrition by the enemy is high. I don't know how much longer I can hold on. Both the Bandit and Sticky Fingers gangs are adept and resilient. I will fight the good fight and hold on as long as possible. However, in the end I might have to say what the Minnesota Twins say annually....."wait til next year..." Until then I will continue the fight and continue my yearly battle cry.."GAME ON!".....