I guess squirrels have to eat too.

You're lucky that it's just squirrels snacking on your leftovers. Where I live, there would be crows, opossums, raccoons, skunks and coyotes.

Where I live it would be the bears, no opossums, but also raccoons, skunks and coyotes. We would also be fined for leaving garbage or compost out. But then we don't get 2 1/2' of snow either.

I also have a freezer bag with stale bread for the birds, and usually remember to put some on the porch daily for my "fan club."

Wish I could see your squirrels having their snack fest. I'll bet they're cute!

Where I live, in true deep snow country (usually over 200 inches per season), the bears are hibernating, and even though they say that racoons, skunks, and opossums are not true hibernators (though they supposedly 'sleep for long periods of time' in the winter), we definitely do not see them in the winter time so I think those naps are pretty extended!!!

I guess it depends on where you live, but in our small rural towns, composting isn't considered to be leaving garbage out and neither is feeding dried bread to the birds.

I don't put anything out myself, in the winter, because it's soon buried under 3" of snow. I tried keeping the birdfeeders cleared off the first winter I lived here, but it's just not doable!

We did try putting out a bird feeder at our camp, even knowing the bears would probably raid it, but they just won't leave it alone (summer time that is)! We had it anchored pretty well, and the pole still got knocked to the ground twice. We're actually thinking of putting up two flagpoles, then a wire between them to hold the bird feeder. We thought if we put a hook from each flagpole into one end of the wire, then hoist the whole thing up about 20 feet, it just might work... Wonder if anyone has ever tried anything like that :-)

Since I can;t work at the pre-school anymore, the birds,squirrels and butterflys are my "kids" now.I have a squirrel that I named Ms. Piggy because she has been in my yard for four years now. She knows when I come outside and I feed her peanuts and sunflower seeds. I sit on the bench in my yard and she climbs up my leg and sits on my lap,or arm and takes the peanut from me. I also have a big Pretzel jar and she will climb in it and take her own peanuts. i have a Squirrel feeder,bird feeder,Humming bird feeder and two bird baths. When I sit at the computer I can watch the birds and squirrels. I have a pair of doves that hang out,a pair of cardinals and Blue Jays. This weekend I had an exciting addition. A pair of Painted Buntings. I have never seen them here before. I looked in my bird book and it says that they come to Florida in the winter time. I guess they won't be here long,because it is supposed to be in the middle 80s this weekend.

When we lived in our other house with fenced in yard, I used the self-propelled snow blower ON THE GRASS to make paths for the dog. Had never given it a thought until a friend told me that they do it :-)

Jel48, when I lived in Baltimore, I went to someone's house and that had that kind of setup. It was a number of bird feeders on a wire that was high up and it was lowered like a flag would be. I think they were mainly trying to keep the squirrels out of the feeders. Worked well.

My mom has her bird feeder on a long stretch of trimmer line (like you use on a weed whacker). It is too slippery for the squirrels to grasp and keeps them off the feeder.

One day I put a bag of trash outside the back door. There was something smelly in it and I planned to drop it on the trash can on the way out. Next thing I knew the darn squirrels had torn it open and were having a field day. Little stinkers.

It's Tuesday, I put my boots on and carried all the scraps to the compost pile. I'll put the bread out tomorrow, we're expecting rain today and tonight. Squirrels or maybe raccoons regularly tip over my garbage cans.

I have seven or eight fat welfare squirrels. They even built their nests in or near the tree where all the feeders and suet are hanging. Then they don't have so far to walk...lol. I love them though.

I did something similar one day. I decided it was too far to walk to the trash can without shoes on, and just tossed the chicken carcass as close to it as possible while I went and got the shoes. However, I promptly forgot what I was doing until I heard a weird noise. I live in the city. 10 minutes from downtown, in the city. What I heard was, a pack of dogs fighting each other just outside my door. I realized what was going on. Luckily, I had the element of surprise on them and made a lot of noise when I opened the door in one big swoop. They scattered and I ran over to the bag and tossed in the trashcan. Gone was the pack and I learned never to wait to throw out the bones. I would've loved squirrels in that instance. I love them of the time. A pack of frenzied dogs, not so much.

:)

Hi deadly tired,

It wasn't the critters that wuz the stinkers, it was the stuff in the bag, seems to me.

o j