Look What I Found...A Relic of My Past Indeed!

Here,on the desert, on the backside of nowhere, life of all forms fights to survive in a somewhat harsh environment.  And when that struggle narrows down to the "food chain" it becomes a fight between BRAINS and BIRD BRAINS! (I'm hoping my brains win out)! 

It was somewhere in my ancient gardening days, before my discovery of bird netting,  and after my planting of strawberries that I became "one" with the food fight.  Yep...my strawberries had survived the previous fall planting...had bloomed beyond all odds...and were bearing the fruits of my labor. 

When I began the picking, I noticed lots of little bird pecks here and there.  Oh Say...guys...those are MY berries...not yours! One of my organic gardening books suggested putting out decoys to get rid of the bird problem.  Yes...strawberry decoys.  To detract the birds away from the patch.  Really!!!  Uh huh. Right.  BUT I was desperate enough to try ANYTHING. 

So, I went out to the driveway and down my alley collecting rocks that could possibly resemble the shape of strawberries.  (I live today to tell you that there are a lot of those kind of rocks to be found)!  And I painted each and every one of them to look like strawberries, I even used two shades of green on the leaves so there would be a shadowy 3-D effect.  I also thought that since every one was different, I should initial every piece of these miniature art forms with a Sharpie...and I did.  And then I scattered the rock strawberries around.  The birds were going for the 'decoys' because right away I noticed movement in the pattern I had placed.  Well, in the end, the birds still got the real strawberries,  I discovered netting, and the strawberry rocks kept moving and moving and moving!  Soon, most of them disappeared.

Thirteen years have come and gone. I am out for a walk....on the same trail I have walked a thousand times or more... look what I find:  a strawberry decoy...a mile from my house...with my initials on the back.  Real strawberries come and go, the decoys hang around for a bit and continue to be moved around!

OK Bea N...I know you are reading this and grinning like crazy! And, if any of the rest of you enjoy a good down home slice of life blog...just visit Bea!