The moles! Actually, they have been less trouble this year than the previous two in which I've been gardening. I'd like to think it's because they're giving up on the garden plot and sticking with the yard, but I have a feeling it could be they're just deeper under ground since it's been so wet. So far, they have not dug tunnels through my recently planted, beautiful Purple Ruffles basil.
It's been a bumper year for the raccoons, though. They don't do much damage to the garden, however, because they find the six or seven bird feeders worth of black sunflower seed much more appetizing, not to mention the cat food.
If they just weren't so destructive, I wouldn't care, but once they started bending up the wires on my new bird feeders and knocking over the bird bath and washing their paws in the cat's water bowl and digging in my potted plants, I had to take action.
I borrowed some traps from a neighbor, baited them with cat food, and proceeded to trap and release not just raccoons, but possums as well. Oooooooooh, I do not like possums. I hate to be so prejudiced, but they are the ugliest creatues going, Their pointy snouts and raggedy fur are so unattractive, and when approached, those nasty teeth and growls aren't so endearing, either. This year, in June and the first part of July, I trapped 16 raccoons and 6 possums, one and two at a time. I thought they'd never quit coming. And I was driving them 8 and 10 miles away to relocate them in a ravine and an old cemetery. Twenty miles a day adds up to a regular job!
I must admit, though, the juvenile raccoons are the greatest. After driving all the way to the cemetery, when I got out of my truck and looked back at the cage, this guy was looking at me like, "What?" I think he was just enjoying the ride. Just swinging. Havin' fun.
When I first started, I was a bit scared of the process. The capture is easy. You just set the trap in the evening and wait. The release, though, requires you to get awfully close, and some of those adults were none too thrilled. One of them had managed to work the handle and the guard plate under it completely off the cage by morning. Another had managed to bend the spring plate all out of shape. The possums growled. And the bottoms of the cages were always caked with mud, and the ground underneath always had big digs. Apparently, they think maybe they can dig their way out. Sometimes, they managed to turn the whole cage over, still inside it.
I was kind of surprised that these critters kept getting caught in the traps. After all, how many times have they seen their friends and relatives get caught, and yet they don't avoid the traps? Those few pieces of dried cat food for bait must be the most delicious things in the world to them. Narcotic, even. But, this poor little baby fellow didn't even have to be baited. He just got caught playing around in a trap I had left set to spring,but hadn't actually baited and put out.
After a couple of nights trapping, and getting possums, I went out early one morning expecting two more. The first trap indeed had an ugly possum (sorry, but they are), and when I strolled up to the second trap, I got a nice surprise. A skunk. Now what do I do? I went back into the house and searched the internet for what to do if you live trap a skunk. Supposedly, they will not spray what they cannot see. I also learned that you do not want to shoot them - as a couple of people suggested to me - because they will release that stink when they die. (Not that I would have wanted to shoot it anyway, and so I was glad of this information.) Then I contacted the neighbor I'd borrowed the traps from, and he and his teenage son came to do it for me. Good neighbors are wonderful to have. Essential, in fact.
I wanted to quit, so that I didn't have to trap another skunk, but I persevered, and no more fell for it.
But how cute is this little frog on an okra leaf?
Every once in a while I saw one up on a leaf the first year I had the garden. None since. (I take lots and lots of pictures.)
We had a family of bluebirds this year. They were gorgeous. The cat ate them. She was on my bad side for a couple of days until I realized I was glad she's an outdoor cat and can feed herself if need be. But still...the bluebirds?!
I also haven't seen any spiders this year. Other than the hordes who live in the cellar.
Maybe it's just too darned hot for everybody.
September 2019
This year I saw three things for the first time in my life: a dogwood sawfly caterpillar, an orb spinner actually weaving her web (indeed I saw two!) and a wolf spider carrying her babies on her back.
Here's the wolf spider:
How cool is that? It's the only spider that does this, and I wonder why it isn't called a possum spider.
And here's the orb spinner. Unfortunately, you can't see the web in the video, but every time she dips her abdomen, she's attaching her thread to the spokes on the frame she's already finished.
And, not so fascinating...here's the dogwood sawfly caterpillar on a blackberry leaf:
I wonder why they're so white - they certainly can't hide well in that coat. On the other hand, maybe they just look like a bird dropping!
Here's the adult from a webpage at American Insects. It's scientific name is Macremphytus tarsatus.
Easter, 2021
This little squirrel followed me around for 2 days before disappearing. I hope he found a new home and not a predator. We haven't had any squirrels on the property since I came here seven years ago. He was an Easter treat. I miss him. (Or possibly her.)
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