Happy Thanksgiving, neighbor!

He was on my mind as I was working last week--our raccoon and his crafty ways.

Anything that is attractive to him, whether as food or trophy, must be fastened securely. And I was sure to wrap the new suet feeder several times with a metal chain and squeeze the hanger closed with pliers. I’d made some wonderful suet cakes that were waiting in the fridge—tasty morsels containing assorted leftover bread heels, stale cereal pieces, random odd nuts and berries and peanut butter.
The woodpeckers would love it!

I had taken a good part of an afternoon getting it situated in a small buckeye which stands just off the kitchen windows—between hanging finch feeders, platforms and tubes. One stop in a semicircle of seven stations. And for nine days, Harry (hairy woodpecker) visited us often to extricate his favorites from within the mesh cage.

This morning it has disappeared.

I can imagine how tempting it must have been—luring my neighbor from his bed—the fragrance of peanut butter wafting to his loft in the hollow tree in the ravine on a balmy night. And I can almost picture him stealing the feeder and retreating to his post to enjoy its delicacies safely within.

Next time, I’ll have to remember he has tin snips—the brand new pair he stole from the barn a few years ago.