Critter Country

 Where to start....oh yeah, the radishes. I planted radishes this year. And they were coming up GREAT. Starting to see the little globe of radish under the dirt....the green leaves taller and larger. And one day I went out - and there was a whole row of them gone. Just GONE! No leaves - no radishes, nothing!

But there was still another row of radishes. Until the next day. And that day, 1/2 the row was gone. And the following day there was not a radish to be found! No leaves anywhere. No partially eaten radishes. They just disappeared!

So we planted a zucchini - 2 tomatoes - the bell pepper that we forgot to pull last year was loaded with little peppers. Carrots were coming up from seeds we planted last year! And we planted 2 cucumbers. All within our netting enclosed veggie garden.

Then one day husband went out to water and found 2 little bell peppers outside of the enclosed garden, on the ground. Strange. And the day after those 2 were gone.

And the next week I went out and saw something zipping past me at the end of the garden with a little red bell pepper in it's mouth! A squirrel! A smallish squirrel. A squirrel I had never seen before. I chased him (her?) but he was long gone but he had dropped the bell pepper.....but apparently came back later that day to get it.

Then we noticed something was nibbling on the leaves of the cucumber plants. And then we noticed something ate ALL the leaves on the cucumber plants and just left little nubs of stems...

So we went back to Home Depot to get cucumber plants. They didnt have any. Then we went to the nursery and paid (well, husband did) >$3 for one cucumber plant. He planted it. We put some old fashioned type bird cage over it thinking maybe it would make the squirrel think twice. We fixed up the netting (we thought). Went back out several hours later and the new plant was GONE! MIA. GONE. Nothing there inside the birdcage. And the nubs of the other plant? Even more nubby!

BTW we have been eating the carrots and they are quite good - although some are quite large! And I wonder why the little shit doesnt eat the carrots? Or at least the carrot tops?

Meanwhile I have been finding Ralph nibbling on the zucchini leaves!!! He must be taking lessons from the squirrel!!

Yesterday I sprinkled chili pepper flakes all around the basil, the zucchini, and the tomatoes (so far we have flowers and 2 tiny tomatoes) and today we are going to look for something that has been recommended to us - Critter Rid.

Now, while hubby was fixing the netting I decided I should water one of the new plants in the upper level that I had planted in a pot. I opened the gate, glanced down and there was something on the ground. Mind you, my hands were full and I just glanced. First thought - oh no, a dead bird! WRONG!

It was the head of an opposum! The snout intact, with all the teeth, the eyes, and pretty much nothing else. Reminescent of the horse's head scene in The Godfather (we have been watching the series The Offer - very good series!) minus all the blood! There was no body - no entails - no blood - nothing. It was not old (I had planted that plant less than a week prior). The only thing we can figure is something killed it (mountain lion bobcat? coyote?) somewhere else and something brought the head into the yard. A cat? Or a bird?

Husband thinks it was the squirrel sending us a warning.....

Then husband wakes me up - well, makes me get out of bed - yelling about some noise he is hearing "in the walls". I get up, and sure enough - you can hear this clanging metal noise in the area of the wall between the hall and living room and the kitchen. It was sporadic. And really didnt seem to be traveling much. And it was just clanging noises, not really movement noises. And it stopped.

Didnt hear anything the rest of the day, or the night or the next day.

But that following day, in the afternoon, we heard the same type of sound but from a different area - the living room wall - the outside of the house - where the pellet stove is. So I go outside to investigate. I see nothing. I really thought it was the squirrel!

Get around to the side of the house and something made me look up - and there sitting on the stovepipe coming out of the chimney from the pellet stove - 2 big old crows! (Or ravens - I didnt take time to figure it out - we have both). One was trying to crack a nut open on the top of the stove pipe! One flew away as soon as I yelled at it - the one with the nut took a bit to fly away but of course he made sure he had his nut when he flew away!

So thinking it over, the area of the house were we originally heard the noise, there is the fan exhaust hood right up where we were hearing the noise! Bet it was the same Heckle and Jeckyl there too!

We put a motion detection light on the corner of the shed. Dont know that will deter anything - but at least in the evening I know when Ralph does go back there to go to the bathroom before bedtime!

Now we wait and see what other critters we will see - the plum tree across the street is full of fruit - when they ripen I will not be surprised to see the deer coming back to strip it!

Havent seen Mr or Mrs Waddles in awhile. Not sure the dead oppossum was the one we have seen before or if it was from somewhere farther away. Hoping it was not a mama oppossum otherwise whatever killed her got some nice hors' de oevres with their meal. Only down to 1 occasional cat sighting.....so I am worried that there is some cat action in the area that is taking care of the wildlife.