Well, I just about froze my toes off doing my good deed of the day

[conuly]

I was outside feeding the birds, no coat, slippers on, when I heard the distinct sound of gushing water. Obviously my first thought was that one of our pipes burst, but no, I am pretty good at remembering to turn off our outside water every year. Burst pipes are expensive.

It was the neighbor. And I apparently got him out of the shower to let him know, which explains why I had to stand on their porch knocking for three minutes. If it had been much longer I would've given up and called 311 about it instead.

In other news, one intrepid squirrel has figured out how to baffle the baffle and get nuts from the peanut feeder which is for the blue jays. Honestly, I ought to just put cayenne on them, but then I'd have to wear garden gloves or something to refill the feeder rather than doing it barehanded. It's not that I don't want to feed the squirrels, it's just that they'll leave nothing for the jays. I'll need to think about this some more.

In other other news the mockingbird has been a more frequent visitor lately! Gosh, it's pretty.

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Comments

[cellio]

Can you apply the cayenne after filling? The distribution wouldn't be as thorough, but maybe border protection is good enough? (I'm assuming you're using a liquid hot sauce and am wondering about spritzing or dripping it in, in a way that doesn't involve skin contact.)

[conuly]

Anti squirrel hot sauce is not fucking around. You can scrub your hands raw and still have an accident twelve hours later when you were trying for some private alone adult time.

I’d be worried about getting myself every time I touched the feeder.

[cellio]

Ah! I did not realize that you were talking about weapons-grade hot sauce and not run-of-the-mill tabasco sauce or the like. That changes the level of protection needed, yeah. Good luck!

[conuly]

On the other hand, the squirrels aren’t dumb enough to eat the stuff. They take one whiff and back off. So… I don’t know where I’m going with this plan.

[pensnest]

I have had a squirrel war going on for... quite a while. One of the strategies was the application of chilli powder to the peanut holder. Most of the squirrels gave it a wide berth, but there was one cheeky little tree rat who was all, "Fuck yeah! Spicy!" and nomming very determinedly. So you never know.

We have a dustbin lid baffle half way up the pole from which the bird feeders dangle, and squirrel action is much reduced.

[conuly]

Again, it's not a war, it's enrichment.