Squirrels

Gloria used to say that squirrels were just rats with fuzzy tails.  I agree with her.  (Crows, she liked.  She said that they were the bikers of the bird world: they were big, and loud, and ugly, and they didn't care.)

Squirrels have been messing with my garden.  They've dug up some pots that had corn, broad beans, and sunflowers planted in them.  Squirrels are not noted for their long-range planning, or tolerance of delayed gratification.  (Let the sunflowers grow.  Then there'll be lots of seeds you can steal.)  No, they've even been pulling up sunflower *shoots*.  They don't eat them, of course.  But sunflowers don't have any motive power to get from one spot in the garden to another, so my money's on the squirrels.

(Lest you think that I am merely personally petulant about the squirrels because they are interfering with my gardening [or because I am short tempered from only having two hours sleep last night], I have a professional beef with them, as a security maven, as well.  What is the single greatest cause of data loss?  Squirrels.  You think I'm joking?  The single greatest source of data loss, is loss of power.  The single greatest cause of power failures is, you guessed it, squirrels.  Generally when they leap from one power line to another, immolating themselves, but causing a power surge, and a breaker to trip somewhere, and knocking out power to thousands of homes and/or businesses.)

Besides, the squirrels we have around here are an invasive species.  We do have native squirrels in these parts: the red squirrel.  But I've only ever seen one, once.  The other squirrels that multiply and infest our trees, gardens, and trash cans, in these parts, are the grey squirrels.  They are much larger than the red squirrels, and have displaced them, to a large extent.  They were imported, from New York city, by a New Yorker, who missed seeing them in Central Park.  So, like so many American immigrants, they are loud, obnoxious, and destructive.  The Ugly American squirrel.

(Actually, if you read the book, "The Ugly American," you will note that the actual "ugly American" is the good guy, who doesn't deserve all the bad things that happen to him, and certainly doesn't deserve to have his reference used to describe his loud, obnoxious, and destructive compatriots.)

I figure that, once the plants are a reasonable size, the squirrels won't be interested.  So I've brought a few pots into the apartment.  I figure that the seeds won't care if it's dark until they actually sprout, and then I can find some sunny places inside for a bit until they get big enough to transplant.  Of course, the pots leak, so I've had to find some trays for them.

Which brings me to the recycling bins.

It's amazing what you can find a use for, that people simply throw away.  I wrap my composting material in old newspaper, rather than buying the special paper bags for it.  The miniature greenhouse that I gave the youngest Sunday School students (for germinating tomatoes in) is the bottom of an old egg carton, and a clear "clamshell" box that used to contain salad.  (It's what I use for germinating tomatoes, brussels sprouts, and pine trees, myself.)  And I got them from the garbage room in the apartment.  (I don't eat a lot of eggs, these days.)

Giving old things new life?