Moving On

The Tea Cup photos are no more. Over the years, I've captured dozens of birds perched on the rim of a fancy (and sometimes not so fancy) cup & saucer. I tried to locate a photo of the first tea cup feeder that I received as a gift. No luck. It was a pretty accent to the garden and the birds seemed to like them so my husband built many more over the years from cups and saucers that had been packed away in boxes in the basement. I'm sure the squirrels were always stealing the seeds, but it became more obvious to me when two feeders were positioned in front of my office window; all the better to grab a photo and I did... many times. Then... the squirrels seemed to take over and as fast as I filled them, the cups were empty. And the only photo ops were the ass-end of a rodent with his head buried in the cup. I used Google to find something to keep them away and found a solution that worked for a while... Vaseline & cayenne pepper slathered on the pole. The squirrels couldn't get a grip and they disliked the pepper. The birds weren't affected because they landed directly onto the cup/saucer. This worked for quite a while.  Then... the squirrels began jumping. From the sidewalk to the cup... not touching the pole at all. Not one to give up easily (it's a trait that causes me much anguish at times), I bought a longer/taller pole. Tried it yesterday and as I was unable to pound it far enough into the soil, it tipped over as thieves tried to get to the top... I give up. No more tea cup feeders. It was fun while it lasted.