teenage disco doldrums
I’ve been struggling with new content lately. Frankly, I’ve been uninspired. Today, it occurred to me that my sights are set too high; insipid uninspiring nonsense is the backbone of a good healthy internet. With this new attitude I hopefully will have a lot more updates and probably a lot of pointless dreck. (Unlike most posts I guess. Anyways.) Today here’s some recent meditations on the squirrels in my yard.
More and more, I find myself gazing absently at the birds in my backyard. I’ve installed a modest bird feeder and draw no small satisfaction watching the western scrub jays feed and frolick. However, a pair of squirrels in the nearby black walnut tree have made a habit of invading and despoiling the feeder, packing their bellies with seed and nutmeats and leaving desolation in their fluffy-tailed wakes. In retaliation, I purchased a plastic umbrella-shaped squirrel deterrent.
After watching their earnest and futile attempts at a meal, my heart began to soften. Surely these creatures, though despicable in their puerile tenacity, hunger the same as anyone else.
And thus I decided to feed the squirrels. $9 later and I was the owner of a simple bolting-apparatus to attach a brick of condensed corn meal to the black walnut tree. Cassie could not understand my sympathy towards these vermin and even I concede it may be a form of Stockholm Syndrome that inspired this action.
YEAH CASSIE, IT’S LIKE AYN RAND OR SOMETHING. (Also, sorry I drew you so stupid looking).
The squirrels completely love this goofy yellow block dangling from the tree. They do not nibble from it so much as make love with their mouths.
And yet with each day, their flock grows larger. Today I counted six squirrels. I worry: am I giving squirrel youths an inaccurate expectation of life? Am I dulling their wits and ruining their futures with these handouts? And they’re burning through a log in like four days now! Come on guys slow it down a little. These things are not exactly cheap.
