Who's the Nuisance?

Everyone has probably heard the expression, "A weed is a plant in the WRONG place."  Is a nuisance an animal in the wrong place?  Who is the nuisance and who gets to say what or where is the WRONG place?

This is something that has really been bothering me a lot lately.  It is, for me, one of the hardest things to deal with on the farm.  From my perspective, all kinds of animals have been in the wrong place lately.  There was the black snake that was in the area where John was working.  I love black snakes but I don't like them in bathrooms when I am not expecting them.  How can I complain about John killing one if I turn around and trap mice and yell at deer.  Snakes and mice, in some peoples book, may always be in the wrong place. Deer are a great example of an endearing animal when it is in the woods but not so beautiful in your garden, eating fruit or bark from a tree in the orchard, or on the roads at night.  To golfers, and others, geese are nuisances.    To me, geese are wonderful creatures, so far.

Then there were the gzillion ants on the stone by the entry steps, the bat in the house, the bluebird that dirties the doors and windows, and the predator that attacked one of the hens.  (She got through the fence and survived).  Not sure what it was but I am sure it is a lovely animal when it is not chasing hens.

I was complaining to Beverly the other day and she reminded me that they are all in their places.  It is true but I don't want them where I don't want them.  At Boxerwood, we always remind the kids that all the animals that they encounter as they go on adventures, are in their homes and we are the ones visiting.  That is easy to say at Boxerwood but what do I do at Cabin Spring Farm?

I am beginning to do Spring Cleaning in the fiber shed to get ready for Fiber Camp the next 3 weeks.  No telling what I will encounter there.  I want to build some bungalows or condos for small critters to entice them to move out of the fiber shed and garden closet.  What else can I do?  The bats and the bluebirds already have there own houses.  But what do I do about the rest?

The animals are probably thinking, "those humans- they act like they own the place.  Always moving things around and disturbing thing.  They make too much noise and you never know when or where they are going to show up, always in the WRONG place".

Who's the nuisance?

Ideas welcome!!!