Meanwhile Back at the Ranch

 There he is folks, the nemesis on my bird feeding premesis."  The rodent that, in his greedy feeding frenzy, had managed to break almost every bird feeder I had.  But finaly there was hope.  Hope in the form of a twenty pound bag of something called Critter Dinner.  A formula guaranteed to lure squirrels away from temptation.

So following the directions on the bag, I dumped a big pile of the stuff at least ten feet away from any and all birdfeeders.   Then I filled my one remaining bird feeder with bird seed and scattered some more  on top of the snow in three separate areas.

Job done, I went back inside. Within a few minutes, the cardinals found the scattered seed.  At last, the poor birds were finally getting something to eat.  Did I mention that the pest loved to chase the birds away from the feeders.  After he was in sole possession of his objective,  he would knock the feeder down, breaking it open, and then eat all of the seeds. And these were guaranteed squirrel proof bird feeders.

So you can imagine how thrilled I was to go outside the next morning and find that every seed, every nut and every corn kernal was gone.  My feeding areas were picked clean.  It was as if that miserable rodent had put up a big sign directing all of his likeminded friends and relatives to Maia's, Abundanza, 24 hour, All You Can Eat Buffet. 

I was so mad, I felt like taking out a gun and shooting him.  Presupposing I had a gun, which I didn't and I don't.  So I was left with the only other alternative I could come up with.  I would  give this routine some more time.