Squirrel!

I love squirrels. There, I said it, unapologetically! Sure, even though I provide them with a daily ration of raw peanuts, they show no mercy to 'my' plants. They break-off the fennel, nibble on the milkweed, sample the day lilies...all without a care. This has been a banner year for pine cones  which are probably the squirrels' favorite 'wild' food. They sit up in our very tall pine trees gorging themselves and causing the pine cone debris to rain down on our patio and walkways! They seem to prefer the older, opened cones, easier to extract the small seeds inside. But they will harvest the green cones as well, letting them fall to the ground for a later meal. The sound of those heavy, unripe cones hitting our metal roof is rather unnerving, especially in the early morning. I forgive them all of this, realizing that they'r just preparing for winter. Through which, by the way, I will continue to feed them peanuts!