A Slow News Day

Item: Whatever tore up my yard night before last must be something other than armadillos. I blocked the entrance yesterday, but there was still more turf dug up this morning. Since it was pouring rain, I didn't go out to investigate more closely.  Perhaps, as Abe Lincoln suggested in the comments following that post, it might be raccoons doing the digging.

Item: It has rained -- all day. I've worked on making cards -- most of the day.

Item: I attended the Shrove Tuesday Pancake Supper at church tonight. We had a really great turnout; the cooks were kept busy dishing up pancakes, sausage patties and scrambled eggs.  A good time was had by all. Earlier this evening, I read an interesting post about Shrove Tuesday, by Elizabeth of Yorkshire, UK. 

Item: Made a brief trip after the supper to my stamping friend's home to finalize the plans for this Saturday's Stamp Camp.  It was still raining, but not heavily, and the driveway to her home had about two dozen huge worms crawling on it; some long and skinny, some long and as big around as my little finger.  Rain and warm weather must have brought them out. She told me that her dogs will probably eat the worms tomorrow, but only if they are dead. (I warned you that it was a slow news day.)

Tomorrow is also a day --  Ash Wednesday.

Am I Ready For a Job with CSI...

... or at the Jeffersonian?

Those of you who are squeamish may not wish to read much further, although I've tried to be "gentle." Those intrepid souls who may watch, or be addicted to crime scene and forensic investigation TV shows, as I am, know what I'm talking about.

Background: On Thanksgiving evening, after dark (which comes much too early these days), I ventured outside to the small shed in my back yard to retrieve a shovel with which to dig up some tender plants in my front garden, since below-freezing temperatures were forecast for that night.  As I got to within about 6 feet of the shed, my nostrils picked up the unmistakable scent of decomposition -- and it wasn't moldy leaves.  Some creature of the Animal Kingdom had died within close proximity and was making its remains known in natural, but most foul, manner.  It was too dark to look for a body, and I hoped it was just some bird, or perhaps a squirrel which had met its Maker on my property.  I didn't want to be walking around in the dark and go ankle-deep into something I'd much rather not step on.

Yesterday afternoon, I ventured out with gloves,  a rake, and anvil pruners (unfortunately there is quite a bit of undergrowth behind my shed.)  Even with my nose in full operational mode, I did not locate the object of my search by the time the light was waning, and so put off further investigation until today.

A more aggressive investigation, with more snipping and raking, and again using my olfactory sense, led me to believe that whatever was decomposing was in a spot underneath the back side of the shed, which is only about 6 inches off the ground.  I could see nothing, even with bending as far as I could and peering underneath.  I finally used a long-handled two-pronged hoe for a probe. I initially pulled out a few small pieces of fur, which I took to be that of a squirrel.  I thought to myself that a creature as small as a squirrel would rapidly disintegrate and the odor would soon fade. "Let Nature take its course," I thought.

However, the next probe encountered something much more substantial than a squirrel.  I pulled gently on the object and there quickly was revealed a large and very dead raccoon.  It had been dead for some time, as insect and larval activity had reduced its mass by about one-third.

After a quick call to Gardening Daughter, who advised me to dig a hole and bury the creature, the remains were interred with minimal ceremony.  "From Earth you came, to Earth you are returned. Rest in Peace."

I managed all the activity quite well, I thought, but quickly came to the conclusion that I definitely am not ready for a job that would require dealing with human remains. I know that, unfortunately, that is a job which must be done, and the people who deal with such things on an all-too-frequent basis are to be commended.  

Later, with more pleasant things, I trust.

Bits and Pieces

Not a whole lot going on since the last post. It's rained, off and on, during the last couple of days, so the yardening has been curtailed. I did manage a walk around between showers and noticed that my newly planted canna lilies seem to have settled in. There's new growth on several of them, as evidenced by the tightly curled shoot shown below.

I'm baby sitting my gardening daughter's dogs, Snuggles and Buddy, while she is away for a few days. Snuggles, about whom I wrote a couple of times last year while she being adopted and undergoing treatment for heartworms, has made a full recovery and is a sweet, sweet dog. True to her name, she does like to snuggle, and nearly pushed me off my side of the bed last night. Of course, the dogs sleep with me! The cats don't like it much, although Squeak did nest down on my other side sometime during the early morning hours.

Snuggles


Buddy

Raccoons, again: Just before dark last night, I watched two raccoons crawl up my back fence from the drainage ditch that runs behind my lot. They hoisted themselves into the Japanese Weeping Cherry tree (some of the branches overhang the fence)and except for shaking and trembling of leaves, they became invisible to me --- but not to Buddy. I almost could not get him to come back into the house. He paced the fence line, tried to climb the Cherry tree, barked (of course), and did his own sort of grid-search across the back quadrant of the yard. I eventually just let him wear himself out and decide on his own when he was ready to come back inside. I did later see one of the raccoons walk across the top of the fence from the Cherry toward my fig tree; s/he may have supped on green figs. I don't know if the raccoons camped out in my yard overnight, or went on to greener pastures. There is an unfenced garden next door with some tomato and squash plants, just waiting to be munched upon.

That's about it. It's cooler today, but the humidity is still high, making for not too pleasant walking around outside, and the mosquitos are very pesky!

More, later.

Not Sick, Not Gone -- Been Doing Other Stuff

I haven't made any blog entries for some time, as you may (or may not) have noticed. My Arkansas sister called me night before last to admonish me. She alleged that if I had a grain of common courtesy in my system, I could have let people know what I was doing, instead of just disappearing. I apologize for my bad blogging manners.

I have been yardening (more below), and entertaining and feeding the wild life in my back yard (birds and squirrels.) My yard has been inundated with a variety of birds (I set a good table) most of which I can identify, but I need to get a bird book to be certain of others. I have several pairs/families of Cardinals; a flock of Blue Jays; too many Grackles and Starlings; cute Sparrows of various sorts; lots of Finches, plain and colored; at least one Tufted Titmouse; a Nuthatch; Brown Thrushes; Mourning and Collared Doves; Robins; and at least three individually identifiable hummingbirds.

And Squirrels!!! Too many to count! They are greedy pigs, and cause me to have to refill the feeders at least twice a day. One small individual I have named "BOB" because his tail is only about 3" long; no curl to it at all. He's really cute, but not having a balancing tail must be a real handicap. I have noticed that he is a ground feeder, and doesn't try to climb the shepherd's crooks to reach the feeders. I make sure to leave him something he can easily reach.

By the way... the raccoons that I wrote about last year are evidently still in the neighborhood, as I found some little foot prints in a newly raked flower bed a few days ago.

Now, as to the yardening: While not actually performing any work beyond weed-eating and mowing, picking up and bagging the not-wanted-bits from these efforts, (which is quite enough in this heat, even if one starts at dawn), I have been watching, managing and supervising those with stronger backs and constitutions, "those" being my gardening daughter and her 18 year old son. Progress has been spotty due to the overwhelming heat and humidity, but we (editorial, of course) eventually will get to the place we had in mind when all this started.

The first project was working at the northwest corner of my carport.

Before

A tatty mess consisting of an old forsythia bush (which has found a new home in someone else's garden), several volunteer oak trees that were not snatched out when they were of snatching size, tangled variegated vinca vines, a badly deteriorated "whiskey barrel" that used to contain more than grass and vinca, huge clumps of violets and other various and assorted volunteer weedy things. Some curb appeal, huh? Not!

After

A beautiful (I think) small bed containing purple fountain grass, Chocolate Joe Pye Weed (hiding in the far back left behind a tall basil), three varieties of basil, thyme, and four salvia plants, moved from a previous planting spot, plus assorted interesting stones.

The next, and more major project, was the brain-child of my daughter who was convinced that I needed a pathway from my driveway to the front door, with plantings on either side. It's a work still in progress. I don't have a purely "before" photo, but just imagine, if you will, solid grass. The photo below was taken during the initial removal of the grass.

First Stage

Second Stage

A lot of work was involved between First and Second Stages. After the grass was removed, daughter and grandson dug a shallow trench in which to lay the stones. Lots of trial and error in placing the stones, along with some chiseling of stones to make them fit "just so." I actually did participate in the spreading and tamping of the small stones to hold the blocks in place. I have to have some ownership in the process. :)

More soil will be removed on the sides of the walk so that when the planting is done, a heavy layer of mulch can be applied without running over the boundaries. The now dirt area will contain some evergreens, some day lilies just inside the border furthest from the house, and various other perennials. It's too late in the season to get any decent annuals, but I may be able to find some pots of flowers to add a bit of color until fall.

It will be a while before I have another progress report, since my labor force is going on vacation for a week. I'll try not to mess up their work while they are gone.

Hope everyone is staying cool and having a great summer.

More, later.

Happy, Arkansas Sister?

No More Ruckus on My Roof - Post 38

The raccoons have been officially evicted. I'd cry over their losing their home, but just can't bring myself to do so. What I could cry over is the loss of my trees. I posted a couple of weeks ago here about the upcoming necessity of removing a large wild cherry tree which was pushing (hard) against my neighbor's fence and dropping numerous limbs onto her property. That particular tree also happened to be the hangout of a family of masked bandits who trip-tripped-tripped all over my roof at night.

Before tree removal


The raccoons' nest was located in the thicker, ivy-draped branches of the taller, sort of wispy-looking-at-the-top, tree behind the tree in the foreground. Very sadly, the first tree, a dogwood planted over 20 years ago, had to be removed to allow access to the troublesome wild cherry. I estimate that the wild cherry was approximately 35 feet tall and, for safety's sake, it had to be cut from the top down, so one of those "cherry picker" buckets was used. That particular piece of equipment is mounted to the back of a very big truck which had to get as close to the tree as possible. Therefore, the dogwood had to go. (See first and last photos; my yard looks naked in the latter.) The west side of my carport and the room behind it are now bereft of the tempering shade of the dogwood and the wild cherry. I expect that my air conditioning bill will increase significantly before the heat of the summer is over.

The tree removal team was a group of most pleasant young men (I don't know how old the oldest was but, at my age, just about everyone is younger.) I had been in the yard photographing the beginning of the process and mentioned to the foreman that I was blogging about the raccoons. When the overhanging limbs had been removed and the raccoon nest exposed, he came to my door to ask if I'd like to have some photos of the nest before it was cut down. Of course, I said "yes," and handed over my camera. Looks like a big bird's nest, doesn't it?


Oh, for those readers who may have some concern about the raccoons, no raccoons were injured in the removal of this tree. In fact, no raccoons were to be seen anywhere in the vicinity. Do you suppose they overheard me contracting with the tree man last week and high-tailed it?

I have a couple of other photos of the nest, taken from the ground, which better display its rounded nature, but I'm saving them for Sky Watch Friday this week.

The tree workers are due to return tomorrow, when they will begin to work on removing three additional trees even further back in the yard. These, also, are fence-pushing wild cherry trees which drop even more limbs onto my neighbor's lawn. I decided that while I had access to the tree-chopper-downers, I'd get rid of those, too. I'm going to have a very sun-filled (and hot) back yard in a few days.

After Tree Removal
Ugly, isn't it?

A Ruckus on My Roof - Post 32

A tall tree on the west side of my yard is, as I discovered this evening, home to a whole family of raccoons! I was reading the Sky Watch Friday blogs when I heard not-so-light footsteps on my roof. I've known for some time that there are raccoons in our urban neighborhood, but had not yet spied anything except some tell-tale evidence in the grass.

I normally don't go prowling around outside after dark, but I picked up my best flashlight and slipped out the door into the back yard. A scan of the roof over my office showed nothing, so I stepped back a few paces and shone the light across the roof and then up into the ivy-draped tree. Eight little spots of light glittered back at me -- 4 raccoons! Any person in the vicinity could have overheard me having a not so sweet and definitely one-sided conversation with them. They just listened to my rant and blinked their eyes. In less than a minute, still another one came trip-tripping across a limb which overhangs my den to join the others. I estimate that the latter one, which I could see in profile as it scampered across, was at least a foot long from ears to base of tail. It was too dark and the ivy too thick to see his/her bushy tail.

This raccoon family doesn't realize it yet, but their cosy home is slated for demolition -- soon. The tree in which they are dwelling is leaning against a fence which separates my yard from a (as still yet) friendly neighbor. Well, it's more pushing against our mutual fence (from my side to hers) than it is leaning. And several branches of said tree are about to overhang her house. It's time for the tree to go -- either in its entirety or severely topped off and all the offending branches removed. Earlier this week I had spoken with the 'tree man' who will come this weekend to give me an estimate. An estimate is necessary so I won't go into cardiac arrest when the bill comes!

Ricky Raccoon, and all your family, it's time for you to move on!