What did you do in the garden today?

[TropicalBabies]

I love the green!

How long will your MIL be visiting TB?

Till the 17th of Feb. DH flies to Oahu for doc appointment and mom will fly with him. He will stay a week there with her and then I hope he brings her back here. She has become afraid to fly alone (don't blame her a bit) probably because of the dementia. We just have to do a little more to help her out now. She can still sit cross legged on the floor and get herself up. Absolutely no arthritis... me on the other hand... ouch!

I'm sorry but I have to be in @cavemanrich 's camp. I think the squirrels are cute... I'm sure I would feed them too. Fantastic yard, neighborhood and garden @cavemanrich. My mom is from Illinois so we traveled to visit family when I was a little kid. I always thought it fairy tale beautiful. I loved the fireflies

 

[TropicalBabies]

I love the flowers Cavey! Especially with the squirrels additions included.

I counted 11! (i think)

 

[pennyJo1960]

We ate squirrel what does that say huh

 

[BReeder!]

We ate squirrel what does that say huh

I'm not against eating squirrel. I'm just not certain I would want to eat local squirrel since we live in a suburban area. There's plenty of fields, parks and woods nearby, but I imagine the squirrels good be getting into all sorts of litter, garbage and even poison potentially.

 

[karenerwin]

I was laid off along with a bunch of other folks, so yes I guess I'm changing careers.

ETA I'm sorry, I hope that doesn't seem rude, I was multi tasking and just answered quick!

No, not rude at all. I read it as "matter of fact". I hope you have found another job/career and that you like the new one way more than the old one!

 

[karenerwin]

Good morning gardeners. I hope you are feeling better @karenerwin. With all these winter germs and viruses floating around you really need to be careful, eat well and rest. I wish you the best of luck with your career change @igorsMistress. At least the job market has improved somewhat from a few years ago. Good luck with the fence project @BReeder! I would go with the 2 x 4 welded wire, 4 feet high. A 5 foot fence will not keep deer out. Placing obstructions to prevent a clear landing spot will deter the deer. The hardware cloth may deter the rabbits, however they do make tunnels just not as large as the groundhogs. So chicken wire would be a little less expensive. I'm guessing I have a different species of chipmunks here in New England. They frequently climb fences and trees to get to where they want to go. The weather people are forecasting some wintry mixes later this week. Also have some colder temps coming back for a little while. I'm thinking of starting some of my seeds early as well @Acre4Me. Apparently I need to start the leek seeds now as soon as I can remember to buy starter soil. I have enough material to put up the tunnel row covers if the groundhog lied. This morning I spent some time designing my outdoor brooder and grow out pen addition. I'm going for a 6 x 5 foot area with the brooder box raised up 3 feet from the ground. This will be my final addition to the chicken coop complex. I don't plan on anymore building projects after this year. Have a great day everyone.

Thanks @Wee Farmer Sarah! I have done a lot of "resting" today. I didn't even go out to let the chickens out until 11:00. The only other thing I did was meet my daughter at the car rental place when she returned the rental car and then drove her over to the dealership to pick up her new car! She bought a 2018 Chevy Trax with only 22,000 miles on it!

@Wee Farmer Sarah I'm sure we have the same species of chipmunk. Ours climb too. I think all I did was make it so the cats can't get in their as easily to chase them out!
My Mom sounded much better today when I talked to her on the phone!

The insurance company called and is offering me $3,778.50 for my car. However, when I was looking over the paperwork they emailed me they have the mileage WAY TO LOW! They claim it only had 91,xxx miles on it. I know it was closer to 200,XXX if not already over that,
I'm going to call them back tomorrow and clarify that point. Hopefully it won't lower their offer too much. But I have to be honest about it.
I of course did not get to cleaning out the coop today either. I did ask my hubby to bring home several bales of shavings when he went out to run errands. Hmm, I wonder if he remembered?
We are supposed to get 3 to 6 inches of snow tomorrow as well as some sleet and ice. Sounds like a good day to be recovering inside!

 

[karenerwin]

So that makes two of us...

Your cherry trees are blooming ahead of schedule Wondering the (zone#) location of source you received them from

@BReeder! I was also wondering where you ordered your cherry bushes from. I think I may have to get some too!

My yard is a squirrel magnet. That is of course brought about on myself. I feed those Lil Devlz (year round) If you enlarge the pix ,,, it is easy to count at least 12 there. I went thru 5 bags (50 pound each) of BOSS. last year. Squirrels probably consumed 80% of it. Rest went to birdies and chickies.
View attachment 2018552
My issue with them ,,,, they were burying seeds in my flower pots.
View attachment 2018557
I got the suggestion to get Critter Ridder, right here on this thread. I think it was
Wee Farmer Sarah that suggested it. I used it, and it did deter squirrels, but was ineffective after rain. I got this other equivalent product, that was resistant to rain, and was successful. Available at HD, and am sure many other stores as well.

View attachment 2018562
This is a repellent, and not a POISON. Caveman does not KILL anything.


I wonder if dog urine would have same effect

Or cat urine... I bet cats are a common predator to squirrels and rabbits in suburban areas like I'm in. I don't have a cat though... I'm not exactly interested in my garden smelling like a litter box either.

Unfortunately, I don't think squirrels are overly bothered by dog or cat urine. We have a dog and 2 cats ( and the cats are hunters) but the squirrels just run whenever the dog or cats get too near.

 

[igorsMistress]

No, not rude at all. I read it as "matter of fact". I hope you have found another job/career and that you like the new one way more than the old one!

Matter of fact is accurate, maybe a little bitterness added. Nothing new yet, but I haven't been serious about looking either. I'm still at the old job until the end of the month and have my grandkids after school, working on my resume, etc. I don't even know what I'm qualified to apply for, I have worked for the same place 16 years.

 

[karenerwin]

Matter of fact is accurate, maybe a little bitterness added. Nothing new yet, but I haven't been serious about looking either. I'm still at the old job until the end of the month and have my grandkids after school, working on my resume, etc. I don't even know what I'm qualified to apply for, I have worked for the same place 16 years.

I know what you mean. When I retired from 24 years of teaching and then realized that I needed to get a job, I had no idea what I would be qualified to do. I ended up putting labels on boxes in a factory ( and I have a master's degree in Education!
I think I am a little over qualified for my job! But, I don't mind. It's only 3 days a week and the people are nice.
Good luck in whatever you pursue!

 

[WthrLady]

Till the 17th of Feb. DH flies to Oahu for doc appointment and mom will fly with him. He will stay a week there with her and then I hope he brings her back here. She has become afraid to fly alone (don't blame her a bit) probably because of the dementia. We just have to do a little more to help her out now. She can still sit cross legged on the floor and get herself up. Absolutely no arthritis... me on the other hand... ouch!

I'm sorry but I have to be in @cavemanrich 's camp. I think the squirrels are cute... I'm sure I would feed them too. Fantastic yard, neighborhood and garden @cavemanrich. My mom is from Illinois so we traveled to visit family when I was a little kid. I always thought it fairy tale beautiful. I loved the fireflies

darn little tree rats are cute......but they're still tree rats