But soft! What light through yonder - er - squirrel...um...

For many summers at the cottage,
my dad has provided the local birds
with a number of well-stocked feeders.
Keeping the seeds for the birds and away from the squirrels
requires vigilance,
and this season the squirrels have gotten bolder.
They venture out on the wire
and jump onto the feeders to get to the seeds.
The baffles haven't baffled them.

My brother looked for info about foiling the squirrels
and came up with a plan for stringing empty water bottles on the line
to keep the squirrels from gaining purchase.
A kind of woodlands log rolling contest.

Fourth of July weekend found a group of us
busy emptying a case of water bottles
and boring holes in the bottom of each
to string on the wire.
We made sure to position them all facing the same way.
You know - hoping to avoid a look that says "white trash."
Or at least that says so sotto voce.
It took the birds a while to accept the new look,
but after a several hour boycott,
they started coming back.

The next morning, we looked out to see how the bottles were working.

Wait. What's that? On one of the feeders.

OMG. I can't believe it! How the heck...

One of our droll weekend guests
had positioned Oscar's squirrel for maximum impact.

And today is Oscar's birthday.