i have a friend...a friend that has a huge back yard that takes hours and hours to mow....his persona is as sweet as St Francis of Assisi...and he calls the birds in with his quiet open demeanor...and the mixed seed he picks up at the feed store once a week

large heavy bags...he doesn't feed minimally.... ooooooooohhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnooooooooooo he feeds them with a ferocious generosity...and they come day by day...roost in the trees...eat from his feeder...and in every way delight him.....from the large Cardinals that march the yard... to the spritely Chickadees that gather and don't notice the larger birds who claim guardianship and sentry privileges to the yard...and mug the prepossessed larger birds with their own brand of ...nahnahnahnahnahnahnaaaaaaaaaaaaana

this is not a common interaction...not just fill the feeders...and when they're empty....fill them again the next day....no this is a man who know that many birds only eat in the ground...can't balance on tree limbs....so he walks his ground and spread seeds everywhere....

i wondered if it was so much the seeds left uneaten would sprout and grow and turn the space into a green colorful birdling feast for late summer

his property is backed by wilderness...the kind lovers walk into to salute nature with their passion....so beautiful and wild and the questions answered ~~do bears live there~~and fluffy tailed rodents scamper about but they too find the yard alluring and cross the wilderness barrier...to eat with the birds

they climb the trees...and chattered...bold heathens with no manners...the members of the "wedding party" uninvited...not properly trained or asked to be part of this daily festivity....they gather like interlopers at the edge of the yard..step into the circle like gatecrashers....too many....they are gluttons...and so St Francis must trudge to the feed store more often to make sure all are fed....and so the "five loaves and fishes"....are multiplied and all are satisfied

last week my friend ordered some "fox urine" from LL Bean...the squirrels had become a gathering of such a number that instead of pretty scamperors they had become party dampeners...running thru his neighbors yards....and just making a terrible nuisance of themselves as their numbers grew and grew...

his intention was to doctor the yard with it...and knew the squirrels would smell it and stay out from a yard scented with their mortal enemy

it worked of course...and now no squirrel come to play...and bring their wee ones to stay and partake of the generous dining and he had an interesting reaction to the squirreless yard

he didn't like it

not at all

he liked having a few squirrels

but his solution for too many had driven them all away

in a few weeks the "fox urine" scent will dissipate and the squirrels will find their way back...and first it will be a few...but soon droves will come again

this will become the "horns of a dilemma" for my friend

and we can learn so much from this. lesson..do we want Black or White...or is it both which creates all the colors of the emotional spectrum more desirable ??????

messy maybe..hectic...noisy...just way more then any St Francis can stand...hahahahahahaha.....in a few weeks I'll find out...and ask the birdy benefactor what he's decide to do next time....

~~Namaste to all tender souls~~willing lesson learners~~gentle avatars to the birds and beasts in your little corner of the world~~have a lovely if squirreless day today~~and know alway that our lives can be constantly altered to fit our needs~~but if the alterations changes the desired texture of our world~~we can remove those stitches~~and begin again~*~