Saturday, October 22, 2022

finally feeling well and bastard squirrels


Lack of energy and snot. This has been my life the past week. Slept well enough Thursday night and Friday morning I think I'm on the mend but I've thought that before. We'll see.

It occurred to me the other day that I can plant some winter vegetables in the place where the zinnias were since I won't plant anything else there until spring when the zinnia seeds go in. So the plan is to go to the feed store for plants. Maybe even get the leaves moved today. And wash the 'honey dew' off the car...again. It has been just terrible the last month. Everything under the pecan trees and crepe myrtles is covered with the sticky stuff. The ground has been so sticky that leaves and gravel stick to the bottom of my sandals. Apparently this stuff is exuded by aphids up in the trees. If so there must be millions of the little suckers up there.

Worked outside for about 40 minutes on Friday, dug up and potted five porterweed volunteers and then turned the dirt where I plan to put in some broccoli and cauliflower and some pole beans. That cold front didn't last, already in the low 80s and that was all the outside work I did Friday as I came in hot and sweaty and out of motivation. I did hose off the car and the truck after I got back from taking the dog for a walk.

Today, Saturday, I finally feel well, not completely well but almost there. Well enough to go to the market and get the microgreens for me and tamales for Marc and stop at the feed store for cauliflower plants (my neighbor has some broccoli and cabbage sprouts for me) and come back with the plan to turn a bag of compost into the dirt where I plan to plant. Rather than carry the 40+/- pound bag of compost I thought I would use the garden cart but first I had to empty the garden cart onto the burn pile and on my way to the burn pile I passed the monster rose bush with the thought to prune away enough rose canes to be able to get to the hackberry tree growing up in the middle and then I saw a pecan tree so cut some more and another hackberry and more pecans and virginia creeper and one thing led to another until I had pruned all the way around clearing it from the ground up to about 18”. I emptied the cart and left two huge piles of rose bush prunings to attend to tomorrow because by now I was hot and sweaty and tired and had probably already exerted myself more than intended. I bet I cut off a third of the growth and it's still a monstrous bush. No before picture but as thick as the foliage is at the top, it was that thick all the way to the ground. You can see the big hackberry poking up from the top in the middle.

There must be at least a dozen trees of various size under there. Tomorrow I'm going to cut them out and treat the stumps with stump killer so hopefully they don't come back.

And that bastard squirrel. I looked up and he was ON the bird feeder under the hood. Chased him off. Wasn't too long before it was back. I took these pictures through the glass in the door and it's hard to see with the glare/reflection but he's actually made it onto the bird feeder.


OK, so the hood over the bird feeder doesn't work. Now I need to find a pole that I can mount the bird feeder on and put the hood underneath. Surely they can't get around that!



18 comments:

  1. One job leads to fifty others- that is why I tell myself "why start?"- Glad you are feeling human again, as if that is a good thing. anyway, glad you are feeling better.
    Squirrels will always find a way.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Squirrels are great engineers, and they rise to a challenge!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I started cutting back my overgrown roses in the front yard near the porch but then I saw some downed pecan branches. One thing leads to another and another. Same thing with house work. David is telling me to not over do or it will cause a lupus flair. Screw that! Things have to get done. Have you thought of the kind of squirrel deterrent that when the beastie jumps onto it, it turns violently and comically around and around until the beastie is dizzy enough to finally let go. It works for us and it's fun to watch.
    Don't over do it girl!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've seen those. Doesn't it throw the bird seed out when it spins?

      Delete
  4. I have been at war with that special subspecies of squirrel that have honed and perfected bird feeder marauding skills, for fifty years now, and they are still winning. If NASA has a problem to solve they should ask a squirrel. That's how smart they are! Raccoons are more of a problem right now. If I forget to bring my feeders in at night I find them on the ground the next morning and not a speck of seed in sight. Raccoons can wreck a feeder in a hurry too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. They are clearly more intelligent than some humans, maybe even me.

      Delete
  5. Our squirrels have so many pecans this year that they don't even care about the bird feeder. They are so busy, running about and hiding the nuts.
    I need to get under our fig tree and clear out some low branches, some of them quite large. Difficult as they are almost on the ground. It never ends, does it?
    I'm so glad you're feeling better. Try not to push it so hard!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. No pecans on my trees again for the third year in a row. Not even the native in the back. Not even the big native down the road that produces enormously without fail. Too hot too fast and no rain I guess.

      Delete
  6. I am always so amazed by what you accomplish in one 40 minute garden work out there. Even after you've been sick, you have so much energy. Well done! Interesting how that squirrel keeps figuring out how to get to the food. Now I'm wondering how s/he will manage with a hood under the feeder. They are tricky smart little critters.

    ReplyDelete
  7. I'm glad you're feeling better! I had to laugh at the squirrel business. We've finally given up - we figure they fling enough seed on the ground that most of our birds are happy anyway :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I think maybe if the hood didn't rock around and the weight of the squirrel didn't tip it near the feeder it would work.

      Delete
  8. Squirrels are amazing. Yesterday I caught a squirrel inside our supposedly squirrel-proof peanut feeder. They laugh at such deterrents! (Well, if squirrels could laugh.)

    Glad you're feeling better -- you must be, to have done all that work! The rose bush is going to look so much better when it's cleared out.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I did not realize you had a winter growing season. That's nice. We're now waiting for the two hibiscus to drop their leaves so we can cut them back and be done with them for another year. Glad you're feeling better, colds are the worst.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Check this out!
      https://twitter.com/fasc1nate/status/1584300261782454272

      Delete
  10. Well you certainly don't do things by halves. Good to know you are feeling better. Maybe squirrels are more intelligent than humans after all? Size is just one characteristic.

    ReplyDelete
  11. LOL Persistent little buggers, aren't they? Glad you're feeling a bit better. Continue to take good care of yourself!!!

    ReplyDelete
  12. I've got a little gray squirrel that almost looks as though it could be a young one that's taken to jumping onto the window frame and staring at me from about three feet away. Eventually, I'll give in, and throw a handful of shelled peanuts out for it. I know I shouldn't -- I 'm just training the crazy thing. Still, it's so little, and winter's coming, and...

    ReplyDelete

I opened my big mouth, now it's your turn.