God's Little Creatures

I planted some special lily bulbs today (read: expensive), and since attack squirrels decimated earlier plantings, I installed squirrel wire on top of the freshly-dug earth. (Oh. Maybe you would call it chicken wire, or to be more precise, poultry netting.) I hope to keep the little creatures away from the juicy bulbs that make such a fine snack for them. Sometimes the squirrels hide them instead of eating them, and then I am surprised by the new location when the flowers appear.

When my daughter was very young, I taught her to respect and care for animals as "God's little creatures." She learned well, for when I had to trap mice or poison invading ants, she objected to destroying God's little creatures. "They must stay in the right place," I told her, "or they have to pay the price." It hardly seems necessary to kill the squirrels, and I'm not sure how I would go about that anyway, without killing the neighborhood cats as well.

For a long time I fed the squirrels in my yard—until they became a nuisance. I fed the birds too but decided reluctantly to stop that as well, because it's difficult to feed birds without feeding squirrels. They are amazingly clever at stealing birdseed from the feeders! It only made sense to quit inviting the wildlife, since the squirrels are a pest to my gardening neighbor as well. (Some of her bulbs disappeared and then re-appeared in my yard.) So I've resorted to "squirrel wire" over my planting, and we'll see if that works.

As an added benefit, I had to buy such a long roll that I can share with at least six neighbors as remuneration for any stolen bulbs, if they'd like!

MaryMartha