We have fruit trees in the back garden: apricot, fig, peach, plum, plumcot and nectarine. Mehran adores fruit trees. He has been known to spot fresh fruit from the corner of his eye while driving a speeding vehicle down a twisting highway and he finds it perfectly tragic when good fruit falls to the ground or the birds get there first. In the last few years Mehran has waged a war with the magpies and rainbow laurikeets who appear to love our fruit just as much as he does. Over the years he has tried netting and tin foil and CDs, but nothing, despite the fact that there is still plenty of fruit for us, has worked to his satisfaction. So this year the gloves are off. We have... drum roll please... the cat. And just in case that is not enough Mehran has commissioned the children to help him with his first (child assisted) craft project: The scarecrow.
I'd love to tell you that photo was the end product, but sadly it is not. It can, however, be found on page 26 of Google's scarecrow images. I really wish that I had taken a photo of the kids racing around plucking weeds and long grass to stuff into one of Mehran's old shirts. (He did take my advice and get rid of the newspaper stuffing after I convinced him that it wouldn't do well in the rain.) The head, as you can see from the photo below, has not fared well. 
Anisa agreed to let Baba use her pinata, but despite my old yard duty hat, the rain has taken it's toll (refer to the blue / grey mass on the ground). For the lower body Mehran 'borrowed' the mailbox post from the cubbyhouse and tethered the shirt to it. It is currently looking more like a pitiful version of the headless horseman than a scarecrow, yet despite its decrepitness it has scared the dickens out of me more than once as I caught a glimpse from of the corner of my eye while hanging washing at dusk. It's just a shame it doesn't have the same affect on the birds.
I'd love to tell you that photo was the end product, but sadly it is not. It can, however, be found on page 26 of Google's scarecrow images. I really wish that I had taken a photo of the kids racing around plucking weeds and long grass to stuff into one of Mehran's old shirts. (He did take my advice and get rid of the newspaper stuffing after I convinced him that it wouldn't do well in the rain.) The head, as you can see from the photo below, has not fared well. Anisa agreed to let Baba use her pinata, but despite my old yard duty hat, the rain has taken it's toll (refer to the blue / grey mass on the ground). For the lower body Mehran 'borrowed' the mailbox post from the cubbyhouse and tethered the shirt to it. It is currently looking more like a pitiful version of the headless horseman than a scarecrow, yet despite its decrepitness it has scared the dickens out of me more than once as I caught a glimpse from of the corner of my eye while hanging washing at dusk. It's just a shame it doesn't have the same affect on the birds.
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I found this on the 'net: "Cut strips of tinfoil into thick ribbons attach a few to the netting or somewhere near the intended area, allow ribbon foil to act as a mirror for the sun and flap in the wind. The reflection from the foil and the mirror effect will confuse the birds into thinking they are being watched" It's worth giving it a try, eh?
We tried that. Twice. It worked for a little while but the lure of the fruit proved too much and they cast caution to the wind, risking life and limb, for the sweet taste of juicy, ripe, apricots. Can't say that I blame them. Bangals has caught two birds so far, but it is a sad, ghastly, business, especially when he brings us evidence of his exploits.
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