Mystery Solved

In two days it will have been two months since I last blogged...so sorry, let me explain...

One month ago today I had Carpal Tunnel surgery on my right (dominant) hand. For two weeks post-op I had to be in a brace and now my hand, although still a bit sore and stiff, feels comfortable enough to do some typing.

What about the other month you ask? Well, life got in the way as it is wont to do at times. I also was away from home on a little vacation to Key West.

So...I'm baaaaack.

Before my Key West vacation and my hand surgery, The Colonel and I had decided to put up a bird feeder in the backyard. We have many kinds of birds that live around our backyard like, Cardinals, Blue Jays, woodpeckers, doves and Thrashers, to name a few (we also have non-seed eaters like Bald Eagles and hawks).

We chose a pretty post and a Victorian-like bird feeder from The Home Depot. Once The Colonel and I put the post in the ground, I painted it white. We put birdseed in the feeder and waited for the birds to arrive.

Days passed and no birds...the only critters that visited the feeder were hundreds of ants. Who knew ants like birdseed. Well, during the bird-less days we also had heavy rainfall. Heavy rainfall followed by hot, sunny days equal sprouts in a bird feeder. I cleaned out my new feeder and put more seed into it (less this time so that I would have less to scrape out in case no birds came and more rain did).

Finally, a couple days after the ant and sprouting debacles, the birds discovered the new feeding station. We put seed in the feeder each morning (as well as peanuts on the ground for the squirrels).

The Colonel remarked that the new feeder did not have any perches for the birds to stand on while eating. It did have a little lip running around the base but The Colonel did not think that was good enough. We went to The Home Depot to purchase some dowel rods for the feeder. We chose a small enough diameter so that the birds' little feet could easily grasp the rods.

The new perches were in place for only a day, when we noticed that they had been snapped off. The Colonel had some left over dowel rods so he fixed the feeder. Day two and the perches were snapped off again. What the heck? Those little birds could not be heavy enough to break those perches. We decided to keep an eye out for the culprit.

It did not take long to see just who was to blame for the broken perches...

A rascally raccoon was the culprit. There would be no stopping its daily visits, so The Colonel and I made another trip to The Home Depot to buy a larger sized dowel rod. Thus far, the new, heavier perch is holding up to the raccoon's repasts.

The raccoon's sense of balance it very good. There is not a lot of surface area for its feet to hold onto as it stuffs its mouth full of birdseed.

I think the raccoon knows it is not really supposed to be dining at the bird feeder...as it approaches the feeder it stops to take a look at the house to make sure we are not around to see it and chase it away (which we have never done nor would do). Then it starts to climb up the post towards the feeder and stops part way, looking towards the house again, making sure the coast is clear before it reaches the feeder and begins its feasting.

The other day The Colonel and I ordered some Chinese food and some Wonton Soup was thrown in our order for free. We did not eat it and a couple of days later we threw the wontons in the back yard, near the bird feeder. We figured the raccoon would find them. The next morning all eight wontons were gone and the bird feeder still had some seed left in it (also the lid to the feeder was still on. The raccoon always lifts the lid off to gain better access to the seeds inside).

I bet the raccoon thought the wontons were a nice change from birdseed and I bet the birds were happy to have more seed for a change.