Squirrels redux

We installed the world's greatest squirrel guard on the offending platform feeder. This guard is an approximately 30 inch metal disk, fluted and shallowly dished. It has a top hook for attaching to the wire leading up to the tree branch, and a lower hook for the feeder.
This miracle of squirrel denial and frustration worked for about one week. This morning I observed a fox squirrel as he looked, shimmied down the wire, and stood on the guard as he peered over the edge at the feeder below. As the guard tilted he slipped off, making a futile grab for the feeder on the way down. After sitting on the grass for a moment, he went right up the trunk, out the branch, down the wire, off the guard - and succeeded in grabbing the feeder as he fell. After one try he had figured out how to thwart the squirrel guard!
So, I got the ladder, took down feeder and guard, and cut the wire about two feet from the branch. I installed the guard on the end of the shortened wire, then attached the remaining wire on the underside of the guard and hung the feeder. This meant that the feeder is now about four feet lower than the squirrel guard. We'll see if any squirrel is brave enough to fall four feet in the hopes that he can catch onto the feeder on the way down.
Stay tuned ...