Linda and I moved into suburbia in December of 2012 and I been amazed at the animal activity. Recently, the amazement has been more shock and awe.
During the period when we were in the process of closing on our 1880 model house, there was an issue with some critters trying to live under the house. A local firm was employed by the previous owners to clean out the residents. They caught a skunk and I think a raccoon or groundhog. Then the crawl space was sealed up to keep the unwanted tenants out. This was just the beginning and I should have noticed that bigger challenges were coming. Life was good for a very short period.
The past couple of weeks has been a challenge to "not go postal" on the local vermin that daily drive Linda and I nuts. Let's review the list, which is approaching Noah's. A first we had some skunks. After we moved in the skunks still thought they needed to live under the house and would periodically come around and dig at the foundation of the house and try to move back in. I made sure we had a good seal and also moved some rocks around to hinder the progress. I think they given up--finally. Linda started to feed the local birds and lo and behold--squirrels thought they owned the feeder. They basically would tear it down and clean it out. Being next to a school makes the .22 treatment tough to pull off. We trapped one and moved it over the hill, this calmed down the other 3 seed stealers. If they get out of line, they get the trap and car ride as well. They are absolute pests.
With the warm weather, we had a ground hog show up under the bird feeder. I thought I would sneak around and get a shovel imprint on his head. Nope. He is seasoned at that game and very fast to boot. He busted me coming around the house. He will be a challenge--but IT WILL BE REMOVED. We are planning a garden this year and he will be problem--they can eat a lot of beans. I have a cage trap I will use to safely capture the groundhog and then close up the hole so we do not have the kin show up and move in. If that does not work, TSC has some gas devices to add some cyanide to the hole and kill anything inside--last resort, but effective.
Skunks, squirrels , ground hogs... Oh, Linda caught 6 mice last week in the kitchen. I need to get it sealed up a lot better. I also had a wood tick on my leg just to keep me on edge.
I think the real shocker was discovered last week. We live on a stream that is the headwaters of the Harpeth River. It is about 8 feet wide and a foot deep. I had planted an 8 foot tall Redbud tree a couple weeks ago about 15 feet from the stream in a beautiful spot we could see easily from the house. I was planting some other seedling last week end in the same area and got the feeling of something was missing. Where is the tree I had put in 2 weeks ago? They are permanent, you know! I put mulch around the tree so it would be easy to find. It was gone, except for 2 inches at the bottom. I thought some SOB came by and killed it for grins, but no..... beaver marks on the wood. Ok, why in the world would a beaver come all this way to kill this tree?? It was $25 tree, ya know. I was getting to be absolutely exhausted by the varmits over running our life. There had never been any evident any where of beaver--one shows up and cuts the Redbud-- what next? wolverines down the chimney and eagles on our car hood ???
Skunks, ground hogs, squirrels, mice, beaver, ticks,,,insanity. We only own 2.5 acres!!! I guess we just have to deal with the chaos. It should get better when we get a garden. Then we will have deer and bunnies and chipmunks and whatever.
Hey, I did run outside on St. Patties day at the track next door. First outdoor run this season. It was sunny and in the mid sixties. I ran three 200 m under 31 seconds and the first one at 29.4. I also ran a couple of 100 m at speed. I felt pretty good and I really like the Newton shoes on the track. I tried out some heavy Adidas spikes that are a track and field shoes. They have great support, but are not faster than the much lighter Newton's.
My right hammie has been mad since I ran outside and I need to do a lot more work to get it ready. It likes attention and wants to be the boss. Running will be tough this next 7 days. I am working 12+ hour days on a tissue project and will have little energy to get any real hard running accomplished.
During the period when we were in the process of closing on our 1880 model house, there was an issue with some critters trying to live under the house. A local firm was employed by the previous owners to clean out the residents. They caught a skunk and I think a raccoon or groundhog. Then the crawl space was sealed up to keep the unwanted tenants out. This was just the beginning and I should have noticed that bigger challenges were coming. Life was good for a very short period.
The past couple of weeks has been a challenge to "not go postal" on the local vermin that daily drive Linda and I nuts. Let's review the list, which is approaching Noah's. A first we had some skunks. After we moved in the skunks still thought they needed to live under the house and would periodically come around and dig at the foundation of the house and try to move back in. I made sure we had a good seal and also moved some rocks around to hinder the progress. I think they given up--finally. Linda started to feed the local birds and lo and behold--squirrels thought they owned the feeder. They basically would tear it down and clean it out. Being next to a school makes the .22 treatment tough to pull off. We trapped one and moved it over the hill, this calmed down the other 3 seed stealers. If they get out of line, they get the trap and car ride as well. They are absolute pests.
With the warm weather, we had a ground hog show up under the bird feeder. I thought I would sneak around and get a shovel imprint on his head. Nope. He is seasoned at that game and very fast to boot. He busted me coming around the house. He will be a challenge--but IT WILL BE REMOVED. We are planning a garden this year and he will be problem--they can eat a lot of beans. I have a cage trap I will use to safely capture the groundhog and then close up the hole so we do not have the kin show up and move in. If that does not work, TSC has some gas devices to add some cyanide to the hole and kill anything inside--last resort, but effective.
Skunks, squirrels , ground hogs... Oh, Linda caught 6 mice last week in the kitchen. I need to get it sealed up a lot better. I also had a wood tick on my leg just to keep me on edge.
I think the real shocker was discovered last week. We live on a stream that is the headwaters of the Harpeth River. It is about 8 feet wide and a foot deep. I had planted an 8 foot tall Redbud tree a couple weeks ago about 15 feet from the stream in a beautiful spot we could see easily from the house. I was planting some other seedling last week end in the same area and got the feeling of something was missing. Where is the tree I had put in 2 weeks ago? They are permanent, you know! I put mulch around the tree so it would be easy to find. It was gone, except for 2 inches at the bottom. I thought some SOB came by and killed it for grins, but no..... beaver marks on the wood. Ok, why in the world would a beaver come all this way to kill this tree?? It was $25 tree, ya know. I was getting to be absolutely exhausted by the varmits over running our life. There had never been any evident any where of beaver--one shows up and cuts the Redbud-- what next? wolverines down the chimney and eagles on our car hood ???
Skunks, ground hogs, squirrels, mice, beaver, ticks,,,insanity. We only own 2.5 acres!!! I guess we just have to deal with the chaos. It should get better when we get a garden. Then we will have deer and bunnies and chipmunks and whatever.
Hey, I did run outside on St. Patties day at the track next door. First outdoor run this season. It was sunny and in the mid sixties. I ran three 200 m under 31 seconds and the first one at 29.4. I also ran a couple of 100 m at speed. I felt pretty good and I really like the Newton shoes on the track. I tried out some heavy Adidas spikes that are a track and field shoes. They have great support, but are not faster than the much lighter Newton's.
My right hammie has been mad since I ran outside and I need to do a lot more work to get it ready. It likes attention and wants to be the boss. Running will be tough this next 7 days. I am working 12+ hour days on a tissue project and will have little energy to get any real hard running accomplished.
Don't forget the bird that was actually IN the house!!!
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