The Enchanted Scarecrow

As the weather starts to cool, and fogs mist the valley each morning, I feel the need to decorate my yard with harvest and halloweeny things. Despite my bad experience the last time I bought one of the cute 6 foot scarecrows, I bought another one this year. First the previous bad experience. Someone actually stole my adorable scarecrow from the end of my driveway. Luckily, the thief left my bale of hay and my three pumpkins, but they somehow looked lost without their scarecrow to watch over them. This year, I decided to protect my investment a little better and placed the new scarecrow at the top of the teardrop in my driveway, instead of at the end of the driveway. For those readers who've never been to my house, this is a good distance off the main road, and within sight of my rather hysterical dogs. This particular scarecrow is designed with a bamboo rod as a backbone, which extends on down to act as a post. It is attached by a string to a much larger bamboo pole, which is hollow and pointed on the end. You shove the large bamboo pole into the ground, then slide the smaller backbone pole in to hold up Mr. Scarecrow. So why the title? Nearly every morning and evening when I come out of the house, or drive into the driveway, my scarecrow is watching the yard in a different direction. When I first placed him, he was set to watch the top of the driveway toward the street (west). That first afternoon I came home, he had swiveled around to watch the bottom of the driveway (east). I thought he must be a bit top heavy and had rotated to the downhill side during the date. But no, the next morning, he was turned toward the house as if to watch the dogs playing in the yard (south). Then another evening when I came home, he was staring intently across at the neighbor's property (probably trying to see the new house she is building - north). I've decided that rather than being spooked by his erratic behavior, I'll just be thrilled that he is keeping such a watchful eye on our property.