I mentioned to my wife, “Darling, as long as we feed the birds we will also feed and attract chipmunks, squirrels, and mice, not to mention the occasional skunk, raccoon, turkey, porcupine and heaven knows what other variety of critter.” We really do enjoy watching chickadees, junkos, cardinals, bluejays, sparrows, the more adventuresome crow and mourning doves. Some are more picky eaters than others!

We have every version of the “Have-A-Heart” trap, from mice to raccoon to water buffalo. And we humanely capture and relocate all the most deserving. It’s almost a full-time job. Seems once the word gets out, re: full feeders, the flood gates open and the grazing begins. It's inevitable.

Lately we have been overrun with mice. Once it gets colder everyone wants to move inside. Red squirrels also follow this line of thinking. God save us from a red squirrel invasion. They can be very destructive.

Generally we transport our captives to Dennysville for resettlement. We load the “Have-a-Hearts” for transport into one of our vehicles and set off. I chose our old Honda CRV for my run. Easy in, easy out, headed off the island to your new homes. We also pack a snack for the trip so a food search is not critical during resettlement.

When I made the turn at four corners, heading for the roundabout, I heard a metallic jingling from the back of the CRV. No problem thought I, we have a few rattles from the tire-changing tools that I hadn't put away properly. As I drove around the head of West Harbor Pond I detected an unusual motion in the rear view mirror. And there, on top of the headrest in the back seat, perched quite calmly, was my red squirrel passenger. “Red Alert!” Initiate P.E.E. (Premature Emergency Evacuation). That little sucker took off like a bullet as I pulled off the road. Needless to say I scrambled to open the back of the CRV and, do you think that little varmint would cooperate? It sat on the dashboard with me at the rear door and chattered at me with tail twitching. I finally opened all the car doors and out it flew! No soup for you!

With all the doors open and me running around like a mad man, a good Samaritan stopped to see if I needed help. Can you imagine how excited I was to explain! And we still feed the birds.