Saturday, March 3, 2018

saturday already

This has been a busy week. Wildly variable weather means any day which is above freezing and not raining is a day to Get Things Done Outside.

Also, a day to take Piper for a little walk.


One cold but sunny day we walked in this hay meadow.
Makes a change from our usual woodsy walks.

There's a tiny wetland (a big shallow puddle) at the lower end.



The meadow is public property but is surrounded by homes with horses and dogs, so Piper was on lead the whole time and therefore I have no pictures of her.

Well, I tried, but they all look like this:


~~~

At home, The Flock has made the most of every non-precipitating hour. Already there are patches of suddenly-clear earth where they have scratched and pecked away the covering of semi-frozen, decaying leaves.


This may not be a great thing for wintering plants, since any perennial crown is left exposed to the rest of Winter, beginning with the snow and sleet we have had since this picture was taken.

I need to make a pen for the chickens, but I always hate to do it as they generally have run of the place within the perimeter fence.
Still, they must be contained when gardening begins, else they will cheerily scratch up and eat every planted seed. So "build chicken pen" goes on the list.

~~~


Moxie alerted me to the latest activity of the squirrel recently defeated by a block at the porch gable. Now, the squirrel has undertaken entry via the vent window in the west gable of the house. There is a screen on the attic side, which fortunately had not yet been breeched though it was only a matter of time.

I almost never use the door on the west side of the house. It could have been weeks before I realized what was happening, and I would have realized it because I would have been hearing squirrels in the attic.


On his last day of work before the month off, my Occasional Helper kindly saved me the awkward effort of dragging out the extension ladder and climbing up to install a new piece of hardware cloth on the outside of the vent window.
Nice work, Occasional Helper!


There is nothing to nail to across the bottom edge, and no way to slide the screen into the window frame as was done on the top and sides. So...fingers crossed the squirrel doesn't manage to work that bottom edge loose. I know she hasn't done it yet, because I heard her swearing at me from the porch roof yesterday. Then she slid down the wall and hung onto the porch windowframe, staring in at me. Della marched right over, put her nose a millimeter from the glass, and gave that squirrel a Meaningful Look. I took the opportunity to mention - again - the abundant trees of suitable nesting size available in every direction.
~~~

And on we go.

Good night from the land of cold but not-currently-snowing-or-raining!


I hope all your skies are clear (unless you need rain)
and all your squirrels are nesting in trees like Proper Squirrels.

~~~~~

17 comments:

  1. So glad you're back in action, complete with pix. Good old hardware cloth. We've had perennial trouble with squirrels getting into the building by gnawing holes in the soffits then setting up housekeeping in the roofs. After a lot of chasing out and catching, my neighbor climbed up and nailed hardware cloth over the inside of mt roof fan. This infuriated the squirrels, who attacked it, but without much success. And there's an amazing racket if squirrels manage to get in the roof..

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    1. Oh my word, yes. When they get in and set up shop, it sounds like they are bowling up there...the Night League!

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  2. Great job, Occasional Helper, and Moxie!

    I hope that you get more good days that are warm and dry!

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    1. Even cold and dry is great - no bugs and I can do a lot without getting overheated every 5 minutes! But warm is specially nice for the rambles with Piper :)

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  3. No squirrels or critters around here. Just feathered friends who visit and scratch at the windowsills. My NY boy had a snow day on Friday because of the storm that hit the East Coast. Sounds like MA got it he worst. Our temps are already up to 80 F during the day. Was hoping we'd stay in the 70s a little longer.

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    1. It was plenty wet and cold and windy, but I'm inland, so missed a lot of the flooding and high winds, thank goodness. Glad your birdy visitors are coming to entertain Jingles :)

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  4. I can imagine Della pressed to the window while the squirrel draws a mustache and eyebrows on the glass.

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  5. Bad squirrels! Such a pretty moon. Good luck with your chicken pen!

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  6. You're having lots of entertainment keeping the chickens in and the squirrels out! We had a giant raccoon climb down into our fireplace chimney a couple of years ago. My neighbour came over and told me he saw it go in. It could have crawled right into the family room (thankfully the fireplace doors were closed). I had a critter control guy come and flush it out and then he secured a fancy wire cage to keep him out. He also put the same wire caging stuff under the eaves as he said squirrels were nesting in a little cavity there. Thank goodness your Moxie saw the mischief they were up to ;)
    Wendy

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    1. You really don't need a raccoon in your family room!!

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  7. Good luck with that squirrel. The last photo is just gorgeous.

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    1. I'm keeping an eye on the gable window at the east end of the house now!

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  8. Squirrels do not belong in the attic! Of course you know that and I know that, but squirrels don't know it! Goo thing you have Moxie!

    We've had to keep our chickens in their yard as well. They can do so much damage if allowed to roam newly planted or sprouting areas. I was relieved that my comfrey is coming back after a good chicken scratching!

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    1. My comfrey seems to be indestructible! Even after a storm blew my big plant right over last year and plastered it to the ground, it just carried on growing - both horizontally and vertically. What do you use your comfrey for, Leigh? I love the flowers and the interesting leaves, but find the "prickles" quite a deterrent.

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  9. At least you're not dealing with what our son is contending with....a skunk has taken up residence in their basement and refuses all efforts to dislodge him. He has proven himself to be an acrobat of heroic proportions - being able to scale a barricade that's 5 feet high that RJ put in to hopefully dissuade him from coming up into their kitchen. It's five days....and counting.....

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    1. Is your son sure the skunk is a "he"? I'm no skunk authority, but I'd be concerned that someone might be preparing to set up a nursery! This is why I've been putting so much effort into keeping that squirrel out if the attic...if she once got in, I wouldn't be able to lock her out again until the babies were self-sufficient!

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    2. I don't think RJ was about to get close enough to the skunk to find out whether it be a girl or a boy. Alas the poor thing died - not the best outcome, but at least it's out of their house now.

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