Squirrels now officially out of hand. What looked very cute yesterday became a bit spooky today. There was not one cute squirrel on my fire escape but three cute squirrel and the "squirrel proof" bird feeder was everything but that. The famous black squirrel came to visit and really dug for food in all possible and impossible places. Yesterday's squirrel was there too, looking for more. The smallest of the three figured out a way to ride the bird feeder upside down, and to simply pull out as much bird food with its small paw as it happened to want at this particular moment. I felt a bit violated. It felt as if I had thrown off the environmental balance of Park Slope, I felt like a real idiot, outsmarted by three (admittedly smart) rodents with bushy tails. I will now need to find a better way to hang up that other bird feeder. Am I going to put it at the end of a pole which I am then going to rub in with butter? I am not sure yet. The animals today were really rather self confident. I think I am not throwing off anything here. I am just supporting the long supported. One of my favorite entries on "Only Blog Knows Brooklyn actually tells the story of what I think is exactly the black squirrel pictured below. Yes, I gave food to a local animal celebrity. p.s. as I am posting this, the small squirrel is emptying out my bird feeder. About an inch of seeds is gone now. The little buddy uses the landing sticks as handles. It looks cute, but I will have to find some sort of solution for this.