The Toddler

Over the years I've outwitted a lot of wildlife.

Opossums, raccoons, deer, mice, once even a ground hog. It all started when I stopped feeding our poor kitties the cheap (gross) cat food my husband bought and started giving them Science Diet, compliments of my veterinarian Dad. Oh yeah, the good stuff.

Well, then I began to notice the cats were eating a lot more than I thought they should. And they still seemed hungry. My suspicions were confirmed when I noticed the sleek raccoons and a opossum with a very soft looking coat. Well that stuff doesn't come cheap, so the battle was ON. We moved the food dish, got a dog, fed the kitties in the house, fed them in the garage, and a variety of other things. I finally found something that worked.

Our garage door is the one we use the most often and I'm sure it smells a lot like us. And instead of feeding the kitties once a day we just scoop out a little each time we go through the door. Presto! Problem solved.

And then, today, I met with the wildest wildlife of all.

The toddler.

Just when I thought my kitty food was safe, just when I had out thought, out planned all the other woodland creatures, my son comes along. Oooh. Neat. He started out by dropping each individual piece into the water dish to watch it swell. So I got rid of the water dish. (Hey, the cats are drinking out of his Fisher Price water table anyway...) Not helpful. He just moved on to dropping each piece one at a time into the bushes. I later found Sammy carefully crunching his way through the box woods like a child from the Hansel and Gretel story. I am back to square one.

Well, I have gotten rid of raccoons, opossums, mice, deer, and ground hogs, but it seems I have met my match.