Lawn and Garden

This is the sort of stuff you write about when the news cycle is slow, Iraq is calm, and no one has been shot in public.

Hadn't seen any squirrels in the back yard, possibly because they all starved last winter but with a bumper crop of apples and plums coming along I thought I'd put out the trap, just in case.

Set it up Wednesday morning before I went to work. By Wednesday evening I had a trifecta. Only problem with that is that while the bottom 2 squirrels die peacefully, the top one gets to stand on his unfortunate predecessors until you remove the pipe at which time you get the slow emergence of a bedraggled tree rat who escapes if you're not quick enough with the pipe.

Fortunately squirrels have a slow learning curve. Re-bait the trap and you'll get the escapee within 12 hours, and in my case, another one as well so 4 down by Thursday PM. Trash day is Friday, usually late in the morning, so set up again and bag another in time for the collector. Unfortunately #6 showed up right after the truck had left. Had to bury that one. Still, a good start. I may yet get some fruit this year.