Our lovely back yard is host to all sorts of cute wildlife. We have a multitude of birds such as finches, California scrub jays, mourning doves, even some east coast robins have visited over the years! Quail join us too as do rabbits and Disney cute brown ground squirrels.
Recently the Missus planted two Dahlias: a red one and a yellow one. I had just done my shoulder operation so the Missus and Young Son dug the holes, moved the dirt and gently laid the flowers in place.
They bloomed and thrived and all was right in the world. Until the Missus noticed that something was biting the buds right off of the Dahlias. Not only that, the rose bushes were being stripped of their leaves as was the poinsettia!
We first blamed insects. Of course the hapless insects always get blamed. I can just see them now, at the insect bar having a brew with the snails and slugs saying 'you hear we're getting blamed for the Dahlia buds? Again with the buds? Why I wasn't even in the neighborhood that day...'
Then we noticed a new squirrel in our back yard. It was thin and shifty looking. Gray with a long skinny tail. More menacing than cute. Then another, and another! Soon we realized a gang had moved into our back yard. The gray squirrel gang.
Just seeing them cued music from "West Side Story". They were either the Sharks or the Jets; I couldn't tell which. They undoubtedly had a switchblade concealed in their fur somewhere.
The Disney-cute brown squirrels fled. The Grays ate everything in sight. We put fencing around the plants and they tunneled under. I buried the fencing below the ground and they tunneled over 20 feet to reach one of the Dahlias! I sprayed animal repellent everywhere. They laughed. The Missus spread cayenne pepper everywhere. They shrugged.
I didn't want to do it but I had to do it: the bird feeders were taken down but we left the finch feeder in place. Apparently squirrels don't like thistle seed.
The poor birds wondered what happened to their free lunch and left for more lucrative yards. One morning after several days sans feeders the Grays didn't show up. Nada. They had moved on.
About a week later the brown squirrel came back, cautiously, tentatively checking the territory. He got a sniff of the pepper and shook his head and ran off but he came back the next day to poke around.
These days the Dahlias and rose bushes are thriving and the mourning doves and quail decided they like the thistle seed dropped by the finches. The rabbits are back to grazing on the grass and the insects are no longer being slandered. And the Grays? They've moved on to terrorize someone else's flowers...for now.
Recently the Missus planted two Dahlias: a red one and a yellow one. I had just done my shoulder operation so the Missus and Young Son dug the holes, moved the dirt and gently laid the flowers in place.
They bloomed and thrived and all was right in the world. Until the Missus noticed that something was biting the buds right off of the Dahlias. Not only that, the rose bushes were being stripped of their leaves as was the poinsettia!
We first blamed insects. Of course the hapless insects always get blamed. I can just see them now, at the insect bar having a brew with the snails and slugs saying 'you hear we're getting blamed for the Dahlia buds? Again with the buds? Why I wasn't even in the neighborhood that day...'
Then we noticed a new squirrel in our back yard. It was thin and shifty looking. Gray with a long skinny tail. More menacing than cute. Then another, and another! Soon we realized a gang had moved into our back yard. The gray squirrel gang.
Just seeing them cued music from "West Side Story". They were either the Sharks or the Jets; I couldn't tell which. They undoubtedly had a switchblade concealed in their fur somewhere.
The Disney-cute brown squirrels fled. The Grays ate everything in sight. We put fencing around the plants and they tunneled under. I buried the fencing below the ground and they tunneled over 20 feet to reach one of the Dahlias! I sprayed animal repellent everywhere. They laughed. The Missus spread cayenne pepper everywhere. They shrugged.
I didn't want to do it but I had to do it: the bird feeders were taken down but we left the finch feeder in place. Apparently squirrels don't like thistle seed.
The poor birds wondered what happened to their free lunch and left for more lucrative yards. One morning after several days sans feeders the Grays didn't show up. Nada. They had moved on.
About a week later the brown squirrel came back, cautiously, tentatively checking the territory. He got a sniff of the pepper and shook his head and ran off but he came back the next day to poke around.
These days the Dahlias and rose bushes are thriving and the mourning doves and quail decided they like the thistle seed dropped by the finches. The rabbits are back to grazing on the grass and the insects are no longer being slandered. And the Grays? They've moved on to terrorize someone else's flowers...for now.
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