The calendar says it's mid-August. It's hot; it's dry and most outdoorsmen and women I know are spending their days under the cooling comfort of air conditioning instead of braving the sweltering conditions in the outdoors.

Thus, it is admittedly not easy to come up with a timely column this week. Fishing is slow and it's too early to think about hunting seasons just yet so what's an outdoor writer to do? I've got it - I'll write about something that has bugged the daylights out of me for years; squirrels that rob my bird feeders despite everything I've tried to keep them away.