2007 Begins at Fair View - Jenny News

Here at Fairview we have two bird feeders, a thistle seed feeder and a wooden feeder with glass sides that also has two cages to hold suet cakes. Both hang under the eaves of our porch with sweeping views of the cove beneath our house. Only the best for our birds.

Recently we noticed a big fat squirrel raiding the wooden bird feeder and gobbling up all of the seed. He hangs from the roof edge by his rear toes to do this. We usually set the dogs on him and they chase him off in vain, as he makes it to a tree before they even get close. Apparently, Jenny, our Malinois mix, has been getting closer to catching him.

So the other day, when I saw the dratted squirrel on the feeder, I let her out, without thinking she may actually get him and then I went back to unstacking the dishwasher. I was putting the butter knives in the cutlery drawer and glanced out the window and saw Jenny outside with a dead squirrel flopping in her mouth. “Oh shit!” I said, as I rushed to get out the door. I came down the porch steps and she met me at the bottom with the squirrel.

“Good girl Jenny!” I said in my high pitch, reward the doggie voice. “What a good dog! You are such a good dog!” I grabbed her collar and continued gently, “Drop it.” She did, placing it at my feet as if it were a present just for me. “Good girl!” I grabbed the squirrel by the tail and held it up away from the dog. “What a good girl!!!” It was freshly dead, looked like it had a broken back and its head was covered with dirt as if she had played with it a bit. I walked it over to the trash cans and gave it a proper varmint disposal.

Then I ushered Jenny back to the house. “What do good girls get?” This is how we reward our dogs for doing something we like. We take them in and give them cookies. She understands what this means, of course. She was even more excited, as if that was possible, and followed me into the house. Laila was there too. So, I got the dog cookies down and gave them each a handful, Jenny’s slightly bigger than Laila’s. Then I washed my hands thoroughly.

So, that night we had squirrel spaghetti.

Just kidding! All I can say is, we have plenty more squirrels, but they should take heed. We have a bona fide squirrel killer on the premises, so raid our bird seed at your own peril, varmints!

It really is pretty slow here at Fairview. How is your 2007 so far?