Feed the Animals

There are two pear trees, about twenty feet from our kitchen window. They are very productive trees! Most years they have over a hundred pears apiece on them.

The trees are on my mother-in-law's acre. We live in the guest house there now.

For several years we have watched patiently each year as the pears grew. Somehow, though, the pears would suddenly disappear just before they were fully ripe.

The obvious explanation, I hate to admit, is that someone was robbing the trees in the middle of the night. We never could catch them at it. It seemed cruel for them to rob from an elderly lady, but we resigned ourselves to the fact that some poor soul needed those pears to feed their family.

We only wanted a few! Couldn't they just leave a dozen or so?

Now that we live in the guest house, we were sure the thief would not be so bold this year. We would finally be able to make pear sauce and put up a dozen pints or more. (Pear sauce is like applesauce, using pears.)

Two cute little gray squirrels arrived one day and nibbled on a few pears. We didn't appreciate it. I hung bags of coffee grounds on one of the trees, but the squirrels nibbled a few more pears. I sprinkled cayenne pepper at the base of the trees. More pears were eaten. I hung a few pie plates, then a few more, then a couple dozen. The squirrels kept stealing pears.

I read that owl statues would keep squirrels out of our pears. We bought two. It didn't work.

Gradually the pears thinned out, finally disappearing completely.

Today I looked out from my kitchen window at a squirrel. He was sitting under the pear trees with nothing to eat. He looked so sad.

Matthew 6:26, "Look at the birds in the sky: They do not sow, or reap, or gather into barns, yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren't you more valuable than they are?"