My father-in-law, Donald from Mechanic Falls, is a person who loves birds. He looks at them, feeds them, takes selfies with them, and I am pretty sure he pretends to fly when no one is watching.

He's like Gollum from Lord of The Rings, and his birds are his "precious". Sometimes he'll just be walking around singing that song, "Bird is the word." I mean, this guy is serious about these animals. Serious, I tell you!

Anyway, he recently shared with me that he finally found a way to keep his birds safe from the enemy.

The enemy is squirrels.

He has been so determined to find a way to eliminate them from his property. He's not a complete animal, so he doesn't want to kill them, but he does want them to go to the neighbor instead of him.

So, he found a creative way to kick them out.

He grabbed one of his children's old slingshots and slings non-lethal balls or something toward them. He quietly creeps to the window while the squirrels are seeking his bird food, and BAM. He shoots in the direction of the squirrel and it runs away.

However, these squirrels have it out for Don, because they come back almost every time. They look at each other and stare intensely, almost like the squirrel can read Don's mind and they were meant to be competitors at life.


Donald via Joanne Martel
Donald via Joanne Martel
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Donald via Joanne Martel
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This happens without harming the squirrels, but it does scare the hell out of them.

So Don sits in the window and quietly waits, snickering as he tells himself that one of these days, he will hit his target. He will often yell "Go tell your friends!", out the window.

Here's the thing. Donald is my father-in-law so I have to be careful with what I say, but he is retired. He's got a lot of time on his hands, and he has embraced this hobby.

If you need any tips on rodent problems, Donald's the man. He is a "do-it-yourselfer", as you can clearly see, and even though his shot is very bad, his aim is true. At the end of the day, he's doing it for the birds.

20 of the Scariest Maine Animals to be Watching you from the Outside

A local raccoon became quite the celebrity the other day when he peaked into a home in Cutler, Maine.

The image was more cute and comedic than anything. However, it did inspire this list of the 20 scariest animals a Mainer would not want to see peaking into their house.

Warning, this list is quite frightening.

25 Things That Mainers Have to Explain to People From Far Away

Mainers have to explain a lot to people from far away. Here is what they have to mention often.

Gallery Credit: Chantel

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