A Fox? And Other Varmints

Wildlife is suddenly showing up.  I assume the dry weather has driven them to suburban yards.  Deer came and ate all my hosta leaves.  I have static charge repellent posts with an apple scent lure to attract them there before they go for the hostas.  It gives their "deer" little tongues a nasty shock and they flee.  But apparently the batteries were dead.  I've recharged them, added new apple scent, and replaced them.  It will be weeks before new leaves grow, though.  

A few days ago, I saw a groundhog run into the brush when I opened the deck door.  Big one too!  I'll set up a non-lethal Hav-A-Hart cage baited with melon rinds.  That has worked before.  But that is just to catch it (so the cats can't be harmed if they wander in).  The cage may not be lethal to varmints, but I am.  The cage fits into a large tub of water I keep out back.

Sorry if that is disturbing, but groundhogs are pure misery to have around garden veggies.  I walk away for 2 minutes and it is dead.  And it is less bad than it sounds.  I watched the 1st time.  It was simply confused at first, then exhaled and was dead in 10 seconds.  Most groundhogs probably don't have such quick deaths.  At night, I push it into the barred storm drain.  The vultures can't get at it, the water decays it quickly, and there is no smell.

A few years ago, the was a Cooper's hawk around the yard, and I was worried that little Ayla looked too much like a rabbit.  So I kept harassing the hawk and I never saw it after a couple weeks.

But this morning at dawn I saw something worse.  It seemed to be a fox.  Not a cute little red fox nor a cute little grey fox.  I wasn't sure what it was.  It was larger, longer-legged, about 30" long and 18" at the shoulder, and jet black.  Maybe 20-25 pounds.  It sure didn't look or move like any dog I've ever seen!  

I did some internet searching immediately and everything said foxes aren't normally a danger to cats.  But there are a few examples of one grabbing a kitten or very elderly cat.  But everything just mentioned the small red and gray foxes.  Well "almost everything".  I finally found a reference to a "silver fox" that does inhabit parts of my State.

While it is called a silver fox, it comes in light gray, dark gray, and black.  What I saw fits the size definition well enough.  It certainly seemed large enough to kill or injure an adult cat!  I tried to open a window quietly to get a picture, but it looked right at the window and ran off.  Well, not "ran" like a dog runs; more like a slight loping motion.  I noted the direction it ran.

I don't want to be indelicate here, but for the rest of the morning, I saved my pee in a bottle.  Later, I checked the fence line to see where it had burrowed under.  I found one.  The dirt was freshly dug.  I shoveled the dirt back under the fence and poured the pee all over it.  I'll check the spot (and other areas of the fence) every morning for a week.  If there is no further burrowing, I will trust it was scared away.

Foxes are shy and cautious.  They routinely run from other predators (even cats).  And they are nocturnal or crepuscular (dawn and dusk).  I only let the cats out at mid-day, usually when I am outside too.  So they would probably be safe from even a large silver fox.  

But maybe it won't leave.  It occurs to me that a few days ago, I stepped out front and saw a weird smaller critter in the neighbor's yard and it ran away with the same loping run.  I could only see it from behind.  My initial thought was "can a black bear cub be that small"?  Now I think it was a silver fox cub ("teen-age")+.  

Which means there is a den nearby.  Which means the adult won't leave and there will be more adults soon.  That could be bad!  I will call the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and ask them about silver foxes.  I expect they will doubt my observation, but maybe not.  I hope they will take me seriously.

I know the local wildlife pretty well.  It wasn't a badger, raccoon, groundhog, bear, deer, dog, etc.  

The slightly good news is that some vet in the UK did a study on fox/cat interactions.  Something there called "VetCompass" collects data on household pet injuries.  Cat injuries due to foxes accounted for something like 0.014% of all vet reports and cat deaths were much rarer.  Most cats that die untimely, die from cars.  After that, from dogs, and after that, from eagles.  And most cat injuries are "cat on cat" (which are rarely fatal).

But I'm still worried...

A Pleasant Surprise

Sometimes I get lucky.  Sometimes I forget stuff but get away with it.  For example decades ago, I abandoned a grocery cart full of food.  Not deliberately, of course.  The store was trying to prevent people stealing carts, so they install pylons around the entrance that prevented customers from rolling the carts to their car.  Instead, you had to drive to drive to the front of the store, wait in line and load your groceries from the imprisoned cart directly into your car.  

Well, one time, I walked to my car and simply drove home.   When I got there, no groceries!  I drove back immediately and the cart was still there.  👍.   The store abandoned the policy soon and removed half the pylons.  Too much negative feedback I assume.

Well, today I did something like that again.  Walmart has a self checkout area that is way faster than waiting in the cashier lines.  Unless I am buying cases of cat food (where each one has to be scanned individually) I go there.  A cashier can scan one can and enter "24" but customers can't do that in self-checkout.  

I wasn't buying cat food and I am used to the quicker self-checkout anyway.  Loaded my bags, but them in the cart, but the bags in the car and drove home.  But unloading everything I realized I didn't have the milk and 3 other items.  I had left 1 bag at the checkout station!

About $10 worth of stuff.  So there was a dilemma...  Was it worth driving back to Walmart?  The next customer might have simply taken the bag along with their own stuff (innocently or not).  The clerks might have just taken the stuff and restocked the shelves.  And gas isn't free.  And it was hot outside.  And I had other things to do.  And I didn't want milk that had been sitting around for 45 minutes...  👎

But I decided to drive back.  I stood in line at Customer Service for 10 minutes.  I explained to the clerk there about leaving a bag behind and showed him my receipt with the missing items.  He checked some place in an adjoining room, then simply walked away halfway across the store.   

I didn't follow him because I didn't want to lose my place in the line.  But I watched him.  He finally waved at me and pointed down.  So I went.  3 of the 4 items were there in a bag but no milk (which I wasn't sure I still wanted anyway - I am very careful about perishable items).

But he said "just grab another and you can leave".  Cool!  Literally, nice fresh-cold milk!

So many parts of that could have just not worked.  So as I said, I am lucky sometimes.  Just thought I would share this...

Computer Chair

It is old.  Between me sitting in it for years, the arms rubbing under the desk, and cats clawing at it on the top, it is not looking good but still functional.

So should I replace it?  Can a vinyl-covered chair be "repainted" with more vinyl?

 

Spam Alerts

I have 3 AOL email accounts I read on different browsers just to keep them separate.  One, I almost never use, so spammers haven't found it yet.  The other two get about a dozenspans each day.  They crack me up!  They are relentlessly repetitive, yet also inapplicable to me.  Most regard cancelling services I do have, tell me I have viruses that I can't have, or try to sell products I can barely imagine anyone would need.

And they tell me these same messages multiple times a day.  You would think the spammers would organize a bit and create a database.

So I decided to make a list...

1.  They advise me my Netflix, Sirius radio, Sam's Club, Best Buy, Costco, and some other businesses are being cancelled.  I don't have any of those.

2.  They advise me my Windows computer is infected.  I have a Mac.

3.  They advise me they can fix my Erectile Dysfunction problem.  How would they know if I had that?

4.  They promise to advise me on "the healthiest diet".  I probably know more about nutrition than they do.

5.  They tell me the IRS has rejected my [edited to correct] 2023 tax form.  I haven't filed yet (it is on extension).

6.  And apparently I'm behind on my natural gas bill.  But I'm 100% electric.

AOL has a feature I discovered some months ago that allows me to click on "all" and then "delete and block senders".  I'm sure most email providers offer the same.  But it doesn't stop the spammers.  I suppose they just create new email addresses every day.

I don't know about any of you and your email-sending volume, but I read an idea last year that I wish would be passed into law or regulations.  The idea was that every email you send would cost you 1 cent.   I can't imagine that many regular emailers would care.  But it could destroy the mass spammers.

It sure wouldn't make any difference to me (AOL could charge me a couple dollars annually), but 100,000,000 pennies might put most spammers out of business.  I doubt it would harm a legitimate tax-paying business (tax write-off).

Foreign spammers might be harder to enforce that against, but perhaps the email companies could be required to charge for new email addresses.  I haven't changed mine in 15 years and you probably haven't either, so that probably wouldn't affect most people.  I mean, we all get locked in to our email addresses so our friends don't lose track of us, the user names on sites are usually the email address, and it is just annoying to change them.

Just something to think about...

Dry And Hot

 It is dry and hot here.  And according to a map I saw today, it will get worse in July.  I mentioned previously that Maryland has pretty decent weather.  The Appalachian Mountains protect us from some of the worst heat surges of the midwest.  Our slight inward costal curvature and the Chesapeake Bay generally protects us from hurricanes.  Tornadoes were unheard of a decade ago, but my get smaller ones now (better small than large).

Locally, we get enough warmth from the South to escape heavy snowfall.  And we get enough ocean airflow to keep temperatures below 100F for more than a few days each Summer.

But there have been exceptions and sometimes they are serious.  And they come and go in a few years.  So I've experienced some of what many people are experiencing previously and now.  

My family moved to Maryland in 1963 and it was routinely snowy for about 5 years.  In Jan 1966 we had a real blizzard.  Snowed for 3 days, while drifts covering the back doors.  2' of snow actually (rare for here), but it "collected".  It was sort of scary to see snow up the the top of some doors.

Wouldn't you know, but that was the day Mom decided she had to give birth to her 4th child!  The neighborhood roads were impassible.  But a major road behind our yard was plowed.  It is slightly a curse being "the elder son".  I was expected (at 16) to keep up with Dad frantically shoveling a path from the garage to the plowed street behind us.  150'!  

But between he and I (I managed about 1/2 what he did) we cleared a path for him to drive Mom to a hospital.  And he basically told me "stay here and take care of the other kids".  Two days later, we had a new sister and Dad came home briefly to make sure we were OK.

We were.  There was food in the fridge, and I was a good Boy Scout, so I knew what to do to keep things going a few days.

And there was a hurricane that moved up the Chesapeake Bay in 1968 (1969?). It sank our 20' boat and Dad didn't have the desire to buy another 3rd hand boat and renovate it.  I didn't object.  Spending part of my Summer scraping off barnacles, siding, and repainting was not exactly how I wanted to spend my Summer vacation.  But we did have that hurricane and it wasn't a minor one.

When I moved here in 1986, the lawn had terrible soil.  The Summers were very hot for several years.  It was so bad, the soil just cracked apart into pieces the size of saucers.  It was brutal with weeks of no rain and many days in a row at or near 100F.  

I took advantage of the cracks to rake 50/50 topsoil/compost into the cracks those several years.  You have the opportunities you get to help things.  My lawn is healthier than my neighbors' these days.

And we are having a dry spell here.  One half an inch this month.  I know some people are getting less, but that doesn't help my lawn any.  But I see my neighbor's watering their lawns.  Grass in my area (fescue) naturally goes dormant in Summer.  And they don't water deeply enough.

So they encourage the grass roots to grow up to where the surface water is and then it needs more watering...  The way to help their grass survive is just to let it be and/or water it deeply once a month.

That's about it on the weather.  Some things you just wait out, somethings you let the grass go brown for a couple months, and some things you do have to deal with.  Like 2' of snow...

Father's Day

 I am not technically a "human father" (so far as I know, and at 74, I probably would by now).  But I am a "Cat-Daddy" and that is sufficient for me.  It is actually an honor.  I have known some people who just have a "family cat" and if it disappears or dies, they just get another.  Like replacing a broken vase...

They matter more to me than a vase.  Each cat in my life has been a distinct individual.  A self-aware being knowing it had a life.  And everyone of them has been unique in some habits.    

I wasn't always perfect in my care for them.  Sometimes in my early years, buying them food was more on my mind than regular vet care.  But as my financial situation improved, so did their care.   I feel sorry for the earliest ones who could have lived longer, but I seldom had one who died before 12.  I do often wish I had those years and cats to live over with better.

so the past 35+ years have sort of been making atonement for the failures of the past.  i have gone from "cool, a cat in the house" to being able to take care of several at  time.  sometimes, it has been 2 (Skeeter and LC) to 4 (a couple of times).

Today, it is 4.  It could be calmer.  Marley always gets along with all cats.  Lori doesn't love Loki and Binq very much (but that is getting better slightly these days).  Loki and Binq love each other.  And they both like Marley.  

I used to resist the title of "Cat-Daddy".  Their actual daddies were unknown male cats.  But I am accepting the idea now.  I serve as a parent to them.  I don't quite know how they think of me, so I stick with "The Big Thing".  Well, I am big and not a cat.  They probably don't quite know what I am.  I am probably more like "Mom" to them (food, cleaning, attention), but for all they know, "Dad" would do the same.

I would be pretty much "undone" without The Mews.  I need them at least as much as they need me.  They talk to me as much as I talk to them.  Loki is particularly vocal (as were Ayla and Iza). 

So Happy Fathers Day to all you of actual "Fathering'.  And I will take my indirect "fathering" of The Mews with respect for the day.

 

House Plant Pots

Sometimes, you just decide "enough is enough" with some plant pots.  The pots are ugly and mismatched, wrong-sized, etc.  But it never gets far enough up your To Do list.   Well, I sure have enough important things to do, but I've also been looking down the list for things that are more easily solved.

When I was transferred to a different office in 2000, was lucky enough to get a window.  But it was north-facing so no direct sunlight.  Caladiums or Coleus probably would have done OK, but I bought 2 Sandseveria snake-eye plants like these.  

They thrived!  By the time I retired in 2006, they were filled two 12" pots (and were greatly admired).  I brought them home, of course.  And I repotted them and divided them into 10 pots.  But they have been languishing by the basement patio door ever since in cheap ugly black pots of various sizes.

I decided it was time to fix that!  First thing was to get ten 8" matching pots.  And I wanted them in light green to show off the leaf colors.  That was harder than I expected.  Online, I checked Amazon, I checked Walmart, I checked Home Depot.  Green is not a popular color for plant pots.  I suppose they think you already have the "green" with the plants.

And there are 3 qualities of pots.  Cheap and thin plastic, sturdy thick plastic, and ceramic/terra cotta.  I wanted thick plastic.  And buying some of any of those is tricky.  I saw some nice ones for $4 each, but the shipping per pot was another $7, which explained the cheap price per pot, LOL!

But I eventually found some that were acceptable and $7 each with free shipping.  They look pretty sturdy.

They're are just going outside for the Summer, and I thought the pots should "at least" match.  In Winter, they can sit under low light and do fine.  So that problem is off the list...

But I had a second houseplant problem.  My master bathroom gets southern sunlight several hours a day, and I have grown variegated ivies there for 20 years.  Well, they eventually went all solid green, and then suddenly, they all died.  There is an end to every plant...

So I thought of what to replace them with (in a cleaned planter box and fresh soil).  I was looking for Coleus (which was ridiculously expensive per plant), but I found Caladiums at Home Depot on sale.  Caladiums don't need much light.  So it occurred to me that I could have 2 trays of them. 

I have 4 of these.

And 2 of these (or similar)...

One for the Master Bathroom with 3-4 hours of direct sunlight shade most of the rest of the day, and the other for the Main (windowless) Bathroom and then trade the trays every few days.  It should work.  

New Eyeglasses

 I finally got new eyeglasses Monday.  One for reading, one for driving.  I needed new reading glasses.  My previous ones were very abraded so I was using the 2014 ones.  My close-in vision hasn't changed much, but those were abraded too.  

I went to the optometrist only to pass the driver's license requirement (I passed) but I'm glad I had to.  The new reading glasses are better.  I mean, I could only read the 3rd line of a chart and with the new ones, I could read the smallest line.  

It's funny how you don't notice vision problems.  It is so gradual.  And the new ones fit better!  I guess your head changes slightly over time, too.

I'm not required to wear glasses driving.  But I put them on in the eyeglass store and looked at some distant store signs.  There was some slight improvement.  I can see clearly-enough 1/4 mile away but I can see better with them. So I will wear them when driving to unfamiliar places, in the rain, at night.  Anyplace where they seem to help.  

Maybe I should have chosen 2 different frames.  Even the person who fitted them to me got confused.  She put the "reading" glasses on me and my camo hat looked a bit fuzzy!  So I said there was something wrong with the prescription.  

Well, it was the identical frames that confused things.  When she checked some code on the frames (or maybe the holders) she came back and said "right glasses, wrong protective containers".  When she put the right reading glasses on me, my camo hat was "very defined".  I can't wait to read tomorrow's newspaper...

What they didn't have were soft shirt-pocket glass protectors.  The hard ones won't fit.  And abrasion is the curse of glasses for me.  They get in and out of my shirt-pocket too often.  5 minutes on the computer "in and out".  Check a recipe card "in and out".  Read a pill or food can label "in and out".  The reading glasses are probably "in and out" 50 times a day.  

I did go for the full "protection" options on the lenses.  Anti-scratch, anti-blue, anti U/V, etc, etc.  Well, why not?  I read an article in Consumer Reports magazine and couldn't find anything I thought was useless.

I do want to find polarized clip-on fold-down sunglasses for the driving glasses, though.  Something to search for tomorrow...

Added to edit:  Darn, placed an order with Amazon.  Ordered a non-abrasive shirt-pocket glasses-holder, rechargeable AA and AAA batteries (they do wear out eventually, and some of mine are very old), but forgot about the polarized flip-down sunglasses for the driving glasses!

Shrubs And Trees

When I moved here in 1986, the backyard was a mess.  As Julius Caesar might have said "Et haec habet duas partes". Playing on his famous ""Gallia est omnis divisa in partes tres".  Sorry, I couldn't resist.  😄

But my new backyard was a half field of sandy sedimentary soil and half overgrown jungle with rich soil.   I spent several years pulling down vines and cutting down junk saplings and shredding/moving them to the sandy side to break down before root-tillering them in.  And it helped the sandy side that the County offerred free mulch.  That went in, too.  

Meanwhile, I was building a shadow-box fence around the back to keep the large dogs away from my cats.  Built a 2 level deck while I was at it.  Paneled, ceiling and lit the basement too.  And people ask why I don't want to move.  😛

But over the years, some trees have fallen and opened the jungle part to more sunlight.  Brambles and weeds thrived.  So a few years ago I decided it was time to plant new trees.  Not some Mighty Oak, but a few modest specimen trees.  Moderate size, but broad canopies and seasonal interest.  

So the backyard has 2 Sourwood Trees and 2 Dogwoods.

Those aren't mine.  Mine are still only a few feet high.  But mine will get bigger than that soon enough to shade out the brambles and weeds.

So, why not add more to the front yard?  I lost a tree, a burning bush, and 2 Golden Rain Trees.  So, a new Sourwood (in a better location for it), and Weigalia shrub.

That's a commercial picture too.  Mine is slender and 2' tall..

I probably won't see the trees mature.  I once read that planting an acorn is gift to the future.  If you have ever seen the fictional 'The Man Who Planted Trees' you know what I mean.  If not, watch it.  It's worth the time.

But mostly, I imagine how the trees will look 20 years from now.  And the imagining is OK for now.  The 2 dogwoods will burst with color in the Spring.  And the 2 Sourwoods will show brilliant gold flower clusters in late Summer and then brilliant red leaves in Fall.  I will see some of that as they grow and that is enough.  

I will nurture the saplings.  I will keep the vines around them clipped.  I will spread a small amount of fertilizer around their drip zone to encourage the roots to spread.  I will put a 5 gallon bucket with a small hole drilled in the bottom and fill it in times of drought to get them through their first few years. 

When I first moved here, I was driving home for one of the first times and admired the brilliant reds and yellows of some old sweetgum and maple trees.  They were a neighbor's trees but right next to my yard.  I was seeing them for the 1st time.

Someday, someone else will live here.  I won't know who they are (some new generation with a name I don't know yet).  I want them to suddenly see the Dogwoods in Spring flowering and the Sourwoods in blazing Fall color.  

It will be a gift from the past...

Veggies, Flowers, and Grass

I've got 9 tomatoes in 10 gallon containers.   Four Cherokee Purple and 2 Brandywine heirlooms (all about 2' high) and 3 cherry tomato hybrids.  My other 5 containers have bi-color corn and flat italian pole beans emerging.  It is a bit late for the corn and beans but they are "early" varieties, so I will hope.

Time to start some Fall crops.  Broccoli and Brussel Sprouts mostly.  Garlic cloves go in later.  Lettuces are growing in trays, but I need to plant more.  I recently read that scallion roots will regrow, so I am sneaking some in among the lettuce to see if that works.  

I also bought 3 dozen pollinator-friendly flower seedlings.  Three each of a dozen varieties.  It is late to put them in hard "normal" soil, so I am putting them in groups of "same 3" with the tomatoes (in exquisite container soil).  That way, I can transplant them together in "the real world come Fall.

I'm still staking and caging the tomatoes and haven't planted the flowers, so no pics yet.  But soon!

I have mentioned before that I had some tree-removal work done last Fall.  And a neighbor's tree was overhanging my roof and the roots were at the surface like railroad ties.  Annoying to bump over with the mower all the time.

So I had the tree company grind them down.  The neighbor came over and asked the tree guys to just take the whole tree down.  😂

But grinding out the roots left ruts low as bad as the roots were high.  So, same actual "bouncy" problem.  Well, I needed 50/50 topsoil/compost for the eleven 10 gallon containers anyway (and bought too much) so I filled in the ruts.

Finding a small amount of grass seed at a local DIY store in June is difficult and expensive.  They know they've got you desperate.  But Amazon always comes through, LOL!  Three pounds for $10 isn't the best deal, but I didn't want a 50# bag at DIY.  

Leveled the ruts with the good container mix, watered it to settle it, added some more to bring it all level again.  Sprinkled grass seed (I am in Fescue territory) all around.  Then added another 1/8" of soil to hide the seeds from The Birds.  

I am watering the ruts lightly each afternoon.  June sure isn't the best time of year to plant grass, but enough should survive to fill in.  And I bet that next Spring I won't even know where the ruts were!

So, doing a little of this and little of that, I'm keeping things going...

Damn hip...  😡   More about that some other day.