There is a very large pine in front of the house. It is a Pinus sabiniana with vernacular names that include foothill pine, gray pine, and digger pine. It only grows in the foothills of California.

It has GINORMOUS pine cones that come in clusters. They are know to be Squirrel Crack. Sunup to sundown, those cute little (well, not so little) critters run up the tree and work to get the tasty little seeds out of them. All day, every day.

The thing about gray squirrels is that they know how to throw away their trash. It does not stay in the tree with them. They don’t smear the left-overs in their hair. They don’t sit at the table and wait for someone else to do the dishes. Oh, no.

They are fastidious creatures.

When dinner (or lunch or breakfast) is done, the pinecone carcass is dropped. All the way to the ground. The physics of a large pinecone being dropped from 30 feet above ground is not explainable by me. (General math is a mystery to me and physics is way above my paygrade!) Although, there has been some left near the fire hydrant as evidenced by Exhibit A below.

The general area for pinecone detritus is usually away from the trunk and closer to the shed. Rarely do the Squirrels consider the vehicle area a significant place for the trash. Squirrels, as far as we could tell did not have good aiming skills. So we did not worry about damage to the fire hydrant.

Silly us.

So, today, whilst sitting on the front porch, spouse heard the sounds of Squirrels at morning repast. Gazing at the tree, in an attempt to discover the location of the offender of local peace and quiet, spouse spotted, not the Squirrel, but the leftovers.

The ravaged pinecone came straight down, hit the curve in the trunk, bounced out to the right, and hit nothing but net into the old wine barrel! BOOM!

The evidence is Exhibit B below.

That, my friends, was a 5-Point Squirrel Shot.