Gardening

Last weekend I redid the garden. There were fall leaves about 3 inches thick on the lawn and it took a whiel to rake those up. I cut back the old stalks from plants that had lived and died last summer. After cutting back the old stalks of bulbs, I could see the new shoots of the bulbs that will be coming in this year. And I could also see just how many bulds had multiplied and had just taken over one part of the flower garden. They are some sort of canna bulbs that have beautiful orange flowers. The plants themselves are over 6 feet in the summer. I had to thin them out. They are taking over. The same thing happened last year.

My peony is starting to sprout again as well. Last year for the first time I got 2 large beautiful blooms. This year I hope to get more. I planted some new plants as well. Catnip for my kitty and some of the standard petunias and other flowering plants. Looks like spring out there. I just love flowers.

I refilled the bird feeder. The blue jays come every morning. So do all the finches and the doves. Now I have just discovered that squirrels have been coming and eating all the bird seed. I have a feeder but I also sprinkle some bird seed on patio. Some small birds will eat from there and so will the doves who are too big to fit on the feeder. Well, big old fat squirrels are eating the seed.

My mother has 2 chestnut trees in her yard and each winter they yield what seems like a tractor trailer full of chestnuts. We eat some and freeze some. Well I decided that maybe if I give some of those to the squirrels they would leave the bird seed alone. Can we say greedy? They are eating both. They will eat about 2 on the spot and then transport the rest during the course of the day to the big tree...an oak about 20 feet away. Now I try to scare them when I see them eating the birdseed. Why they can't get it in their heads that they are only to eat the chestnuts, I do not know.

Now on yesterday I just happened to be looking out the back door and here comes a monster dog, the size of a small pick uptruck. An alaskan husky with those eveil grey eyes. and what does he do? Take a big gigantic poop right next....and I mean right next to the patio. I was furious. Where was his owner and where was the leash he was to be on?? I had not seen him before so I do not know who he belongs to. I tried to shoo him away. He just looked at me. He was so big I was not about to go outside. He did his business and left and I was so furious I went out the the petstore and bought some dog repellent.

I will make my yard a very unhappy place for him to come to. I also bought the moth balls as that is supposed to drive them away as well. I noticed that he sniffed around the patio before he did his business so I also sprinkled lots of black pepper all over as well. Come sniffing around here and leave with a sneezing fit!

When I was litte I remember stray dogs coming around my parents house. Times were different then. I remember my parents also putting out moth balls. They did not buy dog repellent. They made there own. I might just have to resort to this as well. This is what they used to do. My father would buy small whole jalopenia (sp) peppers and encapsulate them in raw ground beef. A beef pepper ball. Then, he would saute then just a little..very little to bring out the juices. Then they were placed all around the back yard.

Yep. Dogs would eat and get a very hot mouth. Those dogs did not come back for long. When I saw the monster dog on yesterday, that was the first thing that popped into my head. Make up those pepper balls and make them tonight. Well, we will see if the more humane approach works first. It is the most expensive. $13.00 for dog repellent. Ground beef and a jar of peppers cost a lot less than that. If I have to buy peppers, you will be sure they will be the hottest of the hot the habaneros! One ball should do it!

What I do is kick them in the pants with a diamond buckled shoe!
~~Aileen Mehle~~