The Winter War Begins...

The floors in my house are white, with the exception of the newly re-finished living room floor which is now an amber wood color. People always grimace when they see the floors and ask, "Aren't they hard to keep clean?" I think white floors would be difficult for someone who never cleans, but I clean all the time.

When I first moved here I was talked into staining the floors a dark brown, so dark it was almost black. I hated it. Besides the fact it was dark which can be pretty dreary during our dark, wet, cold winters, I couldn't see the spiders. It freaked me out they could sneak up on me. So I stripped the floors and painted them white. The kitchen, laundry, mud room and downstairs bathroom are all white tile. I can see those black creepy little bodies a mile away now!

Yes, I love white tile. It's easy to wash. It's like doing dishes. And I don't have cats, dogs, kids or men walking in and out of my house with dirty shoes. I don't even wear shoes in the house.  I have no desire to track not only mud into my living space, but pesticides, herbicides or dog shit. Lately, I've had too many people complain when I ask them to take off their shoes, but I have yet to have anyone volunteer to clean the floors before they leave. I am tempted to post a sign on my door that says, "REMOVE YOUR FUCKING SHOES!" I am so tired of arguing with these people.

Will I ever experience a winter without a war? Summer wars include bumble bees, yellow jackets, hornets and wasps. Every winter larger animals move in and I've been infiltrated by opossums, mice, rats, and one year I had a cat living under my house. Looking back I think that cat was probably managing the rats, but hearing it run around the crawlspace all night did not give me comfort. It's a struggle to get rid of the freeloads and try to do it safely for both myself and the vermin. So far this year the critters have stayed away. (Knock on wood.)

This year it's ANTS! First time in fifteen years. If it wasn't for my white tile counter and floor, I probably wouldn't have seen them until they took over the whole kitchen and ended up in the food. They are so tiny they are nearly microscopic. They were coming in through under a window ledge (I think) in the pantry, traversing across the counter, down the cupboards, across the floor and up the garbage receptacle which is in the kitchen just outside the pantry. Thankfully, I don't keep food in the pantry - just toilet paper. Again, thank GOD for my white tiles or I might have never noticed them until it was a real mess.

So, how to get rid of them without poisoning myself? First, I cleaned out the garbage container and moved it to the other side of the kitchen up on a chair. They didn't like that and started marching INTO my lower cupboards searching for tasty treats. UGH! No snacks in those cupboards but I had to clean everything stored in there. (What a pain!)

I needed to try some natural deterrents, remedies that wouldn't poison me and would just keep them from wanting in the house. I read like spiders they hate peppermint so I washed the tiles down with peppermint oil. That worked for a couple hours then they were back. I kept washing, and they kept coming back. Not working.

I read vinegar will kill them on contact and deter them. I tried that, but I know vinegar can eat tile so I wasn't thrilled with the idea. I tried it once and it didn't faze them at a all, in fact, their troops seemed to multiply.

Cayenne pepper. In another dwelling I had an ant problem, bigger ants coming in from the garden into my ground level apartment. I tried all kinds of things and the only thing that worked was cayenne pepper in a line on the edge of my patio. But how do I place bright red cayenne pepper on my beautiful white tiles and grout without staining it? I tried putting it on just the tiles, but the ants just walked around it. Not working.

After a week of battle, I was at my wits end. I was done trying to deter them. It was time to bring out the big guns. I've used boric acid for cockroaches when I lived in Phoenix and it works great but you can't just leave a pile of it and expect them to eat it. They are smart. They won't. You have to dust their trails with it so they only walk in it. After the cockroaches clean themselves by licking it off their feet, they are dead. Boric acid is also toxic to kids and pets, and if you stick your hands in it and then eat it, poisonous to adults, too. I tried it on the big ants in my former apartment, but I don't think I did it right. I found a recipe online:

Wearing gloves, mix 8 teaspoons of sugar with 1 cup of warm water in a container you plan to throw away or can clean really well after. Instead of sugar, you can use maple syrup, molasses, honey, or anything you might have around the house that is sweet and yummy. Add 1/2 teaspoon of boric acid and mix well. Using cotton balls, soak up the mixture and place where the ants are coming in. I also added a bit of coconut flour because I figured if ants want to carry it back to the nest, they would poison the other ants.

I put the cotton balls on little pieces of plastic to 
keep them off the tile.

I also placed a small container under the house below where the window is located.   I also caulked around the window ledge, but I did worry they'd find another way in. Annihilating them seems to be the only solution as they are relentless.

They loved it. Yum. It took about 24 hours for the ants to all disappear, with a few stranglers every now and then. I've left the poison balls on the counter just in case...for now.

Success!

Well, the pinwheels are spinning madly, some so violently that they have ripped or mangled. I'm trying to find stronger materials for winter but it's been fruitless. I haven't seen one new mole hill for the last month so I've been thinking these pinwheels are working.

My former neighbors have a very expansive, perfectly landscaped lawn of about three acres. When they lived there they cut the grass at least once a week alternating with a weekly poisoning of herbicides and pesticides. I now have a new neighbor who owns an ORGANIC landscaping company and thinks spraying toxic chemicals when we live so close to a river is asinine. Needless to say, I enjoy living next to smart people and he is now my new favorite neighbor.

This morning I look over at my neighbor's well-manicured lawn with never a blemish. Although it's a little yellow right now because of the heat and he lets the weeds grow, it's still well cared for:

Wait a minute? What is that? Did someone drop something? I went over for a closer look:

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

The pinwheels chased the moles to my neighbor's house! LMFAO! Every time I look out my kitchen window I laugh. I kind of feel bad since I like this new neighbor. Too bad my ex-neighbors still don't live there or they'd be freaking out right now.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!

So I peered over my fence to check the other neighbor's lawn, the bad neighbor...no moles, but what a dump:

I would think the moles would like all that mess and I would like them to take over the bad neighbor's lawn! Awesome bad neighbor revenge!

So pinwheels work. I confess I also used fox pee, but I ran out fast. I don't know if it contributed to the mole exodus, but the chipmunk is still living in my yard and I saw two raccoons last night so they don't care about fox pee either.

Happiness is a Twirly Thing

I dug an old laminated map out of my teaching archives, spent $20 on beads, and perfected the fine art of pinwheel construction! The key is light-weight laminated paper, no bigger than 9 x 9, slippery (glass) beads with big holes, three inch nails, and a post that is sturdy enough to not sway in the wind. Oh, and taller the better to reach above my fence.

It was a challenge finding beads with holes large enough to accommodate a nail. I went to a bead warehouse that must have had a million different beads to select from, and maybe ten varieties were suitable.

So I've gone crazy. At this point I don't even care if they drive the moles/voles crazy, although that would be nice. When they start twirling it makes me so happy!

It took some adjustment to get used to the noise. I kept thinking an animal was in the yard running through the garden, or a bird flying nearby.

I especially like the double ones. This one can be seen from my kitchen window:

I made a double one for the front yard.

This one seems to twirl non-stop:

I now have five in the backyard, two on the east side, one double on the west side, and five in the front yard. Next I think I'll paint some designs on paper, laminate it, and see how that works. I'm thinking I should hang them all over my house and fence, too, like a crazy person.

I've also ordered some red fox urine...I figure it'll keep everything out of my yard.

Chemical-Free Mole Repellent

Something dead is under my garden shed. It smells to high heaven. The last time the garden shed stunk that bad is when Peter died. He didn't smell that bad, but it wasn't summer. He died in the winter. I found a dead baby opossum in my yard the other day. I have a feeling one of my horrible neighbors has poisoned his momma and siblings. I hate it when people kill things.

And on that note, my yard is overrun by moles. They moved in about a year ago and they make such a mess. I can't kill them. They are so cute. And there is a chipmunk living in my yard, too. Well, maybe. I haven't seen him for a while so he's probably been snacking on the neighbor's tasty treats. Regardless, I prefer to prevent the critters from making themselves at home rather than murder them.

So...moles...last year I tried castor oil. I read if you put two tablespoons of castor oil with two tablespoons of dish soap in a gallon of warm water and spray it all over they will go away. It makes everything taste bad. Do it when it rains so it soaks into the ground. It kind of worked. They stopped making mole hills for a while, but you have to constantly reapply it.

Someone mentioned sonic beepers and several people told me they work wonderfully. The moles hate the beeping and will leave. I found two for $25.00 plus three size "C" batteries each. You can get solar ones, but they were much more expensive.

Now I thought they would be like the rodent beepers you can get for your house. Silent. Not a chance. The mole beepers are NOISY. I can imagine they would definitely work because if I had to listen to that beeping noise day and night, I'd move. I can't do noise. I can't imagine my neighbors would like to hear it either. I returned them.

Another someone mentioned PINWHEELS. Oh! That would be cute. It seems the vibration from the twirling drives the rodents nuts and they will leave. Unfortunately the only pinwheels I could find are red, white and blue in anticipation of the 4th of July holiday. They are also $4.00 a piece. Since I would need too many that seems a little pricey. I found some online for much cheaper, but I was unsure of the quality. There are some much larger for much more money, but I don't know if the big ones would work as well as they would need wind. Then I went to a festival last weekend and one of the booths was giving them away. Each one of my friends took one so I got three orange pinwheels.

But they hardly ever twirl! The problem I have is my five foot fence. And the fact I don't get wind that often. Every now and then it got a little breezy and they still didn't twirl! No twirly action and the moles won't care. I've been repositioning them repeatedly and every now and then one will catch a breeze, but it's very short lived.

Twirling!

So then I decided to check online to see if I can make some. I found a pattern. Very easy. Directions:

1) Cut a square.
2) Draw or fold corner to corner for an X. (Folding for no lines.)
3) Cut from each corner 2/3rds to the center.

4) Make a hole in the center.
5) Put holes on every other corner.

6) Put a skinny nail through each hole gathering up every other corner and through the center.

7) Put some beads behind the pinwheel on the nail or a small piece of plastic straw. (This helps keep the pinwheel away from the stick so it doesn't get caught.)

8) Nail it to a long stick.

9) Put the stick deep in the ground.

I did some experiments. I made one out of paper and it worked really well, but I made the mistake of turning on the sprinkler and it got wet and fell apart.

I made one out of some old laminated posters, but made the first one too big. Too heavy. You'd need a tornado to get it to turn. Light weight works best.

I made some smaller ones and experimented with different beads. Greased them up with olive oil and if the wind is just right, they work! When the wind hits the one below, it whips into a frenzy!

I made one out of a transparency sheets and instead of beads (because I ran out) I used a small piece of plastic straw. It's lighter weight, but I have yet to see it work. Waiting for some wind. (Once the wind picked up, it twirled!)

Will pinwheels chase the critters away? I have no idea. I don't know if I get enough wind for some consistent twirling.

 Time will tell. It was fun to make pinwheels. And they make my yard look happy.

Murder She Wrote

I'm feeling really badly about this.

I tried all summer to kill the yellow-jackets that have moved into my walls or roof through the little hole underneath the outside molding. Those homemade traps didn't work. They caught a lot of flies but the yellow-jackets didn't care. I filled one with some really nice homemade wine, and they still didn't care. I resolved to live and let live as long as they weren't hurting me. Yellow-jackets are good for gardens as they eat the bad bugs, or so I've heard. I also read when the winter freeze sets in they will all die anyway. Then someone told me because our winters have been so warm they might just hibernate and never die.

And then they started getting noisy. In the middle of the night. A purring, humming, almost like a soft woodpecker staccato only one hundred times faster. Off and on all night. Sometimes during the day I could hear them when I'm on the computer. That made me nervous. Are they trying to bore through the wood walls into the warmth of my house? What happens if they break through? Will I have to have my whole house fumigated? That can't happen. What I would do with a house full of mean bugs.

So I called the local exterminator. Nice guys. Of course they told me their pesticides were non-toxic. Yeah, right. I took precautions anyways, stuffing towels under my doors and around the wall where the stingers lived just on the other side. Because the hive couldn't be seen or reached, the exterminators said they would use a dust that covers the entrance so when they fly in and out it would kill them. No huge fumes. Still, I knew better.

The boss man was training a new hire, explaining in great detail what is to be done and why. It was fascinating. And then he retrieved this little blower to blow the dust. It had dust in it already, but he was unsure if it was the right dust for the yellow-jackets. To test it he opened the blower and SNIFFED IT! I was horrified! I tried to explain to him that was not a good practice. He laughed. Again, I tried to tell him he won't be laughing when in the next couple years he's diagnosed with lung or brain cancer. Pesticides were developed to kill. It's really not smart to purposely sniff poison! He laughed anyway. These young boys think they are immortal.

So they poofed the dust in the holes. The yellow-jackets went insane, buzzing loudly, and flying crazy. Then they all dropped or disappeared. I watched trying to keep a safe distance, but I think I might have got a whiff of it as my lungs started feeling heavy. It's been two hours and my lungs still feel heavy. It amazes me these companies think their killing chemicals are safe, but if you want to kill something, it works.

I feel sad for them. They are just trying to exist in this world like every other creature and here I am poisoning them with chemicals that would poison me.

I'm glad I'm not a yellow-jacket, but most of the time I feel like one. Irritable, mean, just trying to survive, and sensitive to toxic chemicals.

War of Stinging Things, Part 2

Plugging up the holes along one side of my house didn't do any good. The crafty bees have found another tiny hole and continue to go in and out. Bees are smart and will find a way in or out no matter what I do. So I searched online, called a pest control company, and found a beekeepers' club in my area. I also found an all-girl bee removal company out of town.

While waiting for my bee guy appointment, I did some more bee research. The pest control woman said they might be mason bees which are common. I got online to look at photos and read about different kinds of bees. Mine look mostly like bumble bees, but bumbles make nests in dirt, not in houses. Carpenter bees will make nests in houses, but they are more brown and black. My bees are brown/black with yellow and rust colored markings:

See tiny bee...click on photo to make it bigger for a better view.

What are bumble bees doing in my house and not in the ground in my garden somewhere? I really hate freeloading roommates. Doesn't matter if they are opossums, rats, mice, spiders, flies, mosquitoes, or...bees. Doesn't matter how beneficial to the earth or how helpful they are in my garden.

 

Bee guy emails me and says there are all kinds of honeybees. I can tell he's very hopeful that's what I have. I hate to tell people they aren't honeybees because no one seems to care about anything else. Bee guy comes and he's looking at the bees. He finally agrees with me they might be a type of bumble bee. OK, I was afraid of that. No one wants bumble bees; they want honeybees. Bumble bees are pollenators and, like honeybees, necessary to agriculture. Some species of bumble bees are endangered. Does this matter? Hmmm...bee guy looks a little disappointed, but he doesn't desert me. Yet.

 

Bee guy climbs up into the crawlspace above the laundry makes all kinds of exclamatory sounds...about the insulation and how thick it is. This goes on for five minutes and with every "ooooh" or "aaaahhh" I think he's found bees and I get excited. I know he doesn't want to be in the crawlspace as he mentioned before it's difficult to get bees out of a crawlspace, but he continues to look around. FINALLY, yes, he sees the hive! I have him take a photo of it:

 

The yellowy stuff.

 

He said it's sealed so there is no entrance into the house that he can see. He calls a beekeeping friend and they talk. We send photos to him. Bee guy confesses he doesn't know anything about bumble bees, but his advice is to leave the hive alone and in the fall he'll come back to see if it's grown. I get the feeling he's just trying to talk me into being satisfied with not having him do anything. That doesn't seem like a very good solution to me. I don't want it to grow! I also tell him I'm interested in selling the house so having a bee hive growing in it is not a good selling point. I try to discuss other options and he confesses he doesn't feel knowledgeable enough to remove them, nor young enough. It's obvious he just doesn't want to do it. Who cares about bumblebees?

 

I'm going to have to keep looking around for some help with this. I don't want to poison them, but I don't want to leave them alone to grow either. There should be a better solution.

 

In addition, this the first year in a long time hornet's are trying to make nests under my house eaves. I've knocked down two so far. My fake hornet's nests are useless. I'm very disappointed.

 

UPDATE: Bee Guy spoke to his Bee Guy friend and they decided if I wait until winter when the bee boy-workers all die leaving the queens in the hive, they will remove them and dismantle the hive. Bee Guy friend who knows bumble bees well said they are very opportunistic and they have found an abandoned wasp nest to use for the season. We don't want to kill them, just remove them from my house. I can wait. I'm happy to have them pollenate my garden.

 

 



Let the War Begin...Again.

Yesterday I happened to be out on my porch, enjoying the sunshine and fresh springtime air, and I noticed the soft buzzing of a bee. I enjoy bees. Hearing them buzz around the garden is a sign spring is here and that's always a happy sign. They pollinate my flowers and trees and I grow plants that will attract them. We have a mutually respectful, reciprocal relationship.

I smiled at the sound and looked up from what I was doing just in time to see a pretty little bee land on the side of my house and crawl IN THROUGH A SMALL HOLE under the siding. OH SHIT! I've seen online photos of giant hornet's nests or bee hives in the walls of houses. I watched for a few seconds as three or four more bees landed and disappeared. I ran upstairs to see if I could hear any buzzing in the walls. No. Then I ran to the hardware store in a panic.


The hardware man's first suggestion was to use a fogger. No way. I think a fogger would kill me. Another suggestion was hornet traps, but those would attract every hornet and bee in the area and kill them. I just want to repulse them away. I don't want uninvited, free-loading roommates with stingers loading honey into my walls. Then someone suggested hornet spray even though I assured them I couldn't see a nest nor even knew where it was. Doesn't matter. The spray will confuse the bees and they will leave or die. There were also "green" or "safe" solutions rather than chemically-based sprays. The one I ended up buying is called WHY. Of course it costs twice as much as the chemical spray. The ingredients are: lemongrass oil, clove oil, rosemary oil, and geranium oil. I don't care for essential oils, but I've used a similar recipe to kill mold. I needed something and I'd be spraying it outside.

Covered in oil. Ewww.

I sprayed it on one side of the house where they were entering and hoped there wasn't another entry way. It stunk to high heaven, leaving oily drips down the side of the house, but tolerable. As I emptied the can I smelled a distinct alcohol smell, like rubbing alcohol. Yep, it has isopropyl alcohol in it, too, probably as a stabilizer for the oils or propellant. For the next hour I watched the bees frantically trying to figure out how to get into their hole, but unable to go near or land due to the stink. It seemed to be working. I kept an eye on them to see if they were flying into another entrance but it looked like they were flying away only to return to try a few minutes later. Hooray!

Later that evening as I went upstairs to bed the whole upstairs area smelled strongly of essential oils. Obviously they were getting into one of the crawlspaces in the roof. I prayed the bees wouldn't find a way into the house as they tried to escape the stink. I think this spray would work on spiders and rodents as well!

WRONG! It doesn't work on anything. Maybe that's why it's called WHY? WHY doesn't it work? Yes, the smell repelled them for a few hours, but by the next morning the smell had all but worn off and they were going in and out of the holes again. I raced again to the hardware store and bought some foam to plug up the holes. This stuff is a special recipe with pesticide in it although it doesn't smell much. I used it on the crawlspace as the instructions say bugs and rodents won't nibble on it because it tastes bad. Applying it sure is messy! By the time I finished plugging up the little holes I had the sticky, icky stuff all over. Seriously, I even dribbled it down the side of my face! The instructions say it comes off with acetone. No way! Or it'll wear off. I remembered tree pitch will come off with mayonnaise so I tried a mayonnaise facial. It removed the sticky part but the foam residue is still there. It looks like I have wrinkles. Well, more wrinkles. Uglier wrinkles.

Confused bee looking at globs wondering what the hell?

Again, I spent an hour watching the confused bees fly from one hole to the next not comprehending why they couldn't get past the unsightly glob of goo. They are very determined to damage my house. More than likely I've trapped the queen in my attic space. <shiver>

I got fed up with their never-ending determination so as soon as the foam was dry I grabbed the broom and started swatting them. They aren't going to return if they are dead! So much for our mutual respect and reciprocity. I have my limits.

So I armed with a broom and saw what I hope is the last living bee on earth. I swing...and the force of my killer swing forces me to step off the porch step. Unfortunately I thought I was on the last step and I wasn't. I overshot the last step, twisted my ankle, and fell smashing my foot into the cement. PAIN. Damn bees have now crippled me.

This house is a never-ending battlefield....

Heating

Portrait of Misery

My heating system is making me sick. In preparation for the arrival of winter, I turned it on and within two hours I felt like I had a horrible case of flu, bronchitis, and pneumonia all rolled into one. Breathing became difficult, my sinuses hurt, my throat felt like it was on fire, my neck swelled, my ears congested, my face rash returned, and my head began to pound. Maybe I'm just sick? It's like I'm in constant denial although I've been dealing with this same "sickness" every winter since I moved into this house. Every October when I turn on the heat it's the same nightmare and I spend months waiting desperately for May to arrive so I can turn the heat off again. This year the illness came much faster and was twice as bad as any previous year. I turned the heat off and it nearly all went away.

I've been calling around interviewing heating repair people and getting ideas. Is it ozone caused by a haywire filtering system? Or do the air ducts need to be inspected, cleaned and sealed because they are sucking in the dust, mold, and rat shit from under the house? The public utilities department gives rebates to have the duct sealing done and this seems like the most likely scenario. Sounds like a good plan until I started asking the right questions.

First and foremost, the duct repair guy doesn't wear perfume or scented products. I'm not sure he knows what scented products means, but at least he acted like he understood the question.

I tell the him when I had the heat off all summer if there was a wind outside I could feel it coming through the vents. He says the ducts must be compromised, in other words, there is a hole somewhere. I confessed Santy Claws was living under my house last Christmas and he started moaning. It's not a good sign when the heating guy starts moaning. Yeah, I already knew opossums are known for trashing heating systems. Yeah, I know they poop all over creating a bacterial health hazard. Yeah, I know this could mean lots of money. I didn't mention rats or mold to him. I was afraid he'd start crying. Moaning was bad enough. I did warn him about the cayenne pepper all over. (Someone told me cinnamon also works to deter rodents and spiders! I can't believe it would be as good as cayenne. I would think rats would like something that smells like bakery goods.)

What is use to seal the ducts? Mastic sealant. Oh, you know the stuff that offgases methanol, ethylene glycol, and ammonia from two weeks to six months.

What about duct replacement materials saturated in formaldehyde. Oh great. I am doomed.

Here it is. If I repair this heating system there might be a chance it would render me homeless. An option would be to have the whole heating system re-done and go to radiant heat, but do I really want to spend that kind of money on a house I want to sell? Do I have a choice since moving right away is not an option. The new owners will have the ducts cleaned, sealed, and have no problem. Can I live without central heat for the next couple years until I sell it? It's gonna get cold!

Pondering the options.

What a hassle.

Hornets' Nests!!

 

 

Do you see the hornets' nest hanging off my shed? Does it strike terror in the very depths of your soul?

 

I hope so. At least if you are a hornet.

 

 

The summer I moved here I could see traces of old hornets' nests under the eaves of my house. Someone knocked them down before I moved in. Then as I'm landscaping the yard I found a massive nest about the size of a basketball behind a bush. It still had hornets in it! The next spring the hornets were at it again and managed to make a little nest before I found it. Trying to whack it down, spray it with water, and run like mad before the hornets organize themselves for an attack is not my idea of a good time. I don't use pesticides because they are toxic, and also hornets are actually really good for gardens. I still don't relish the thought of getting stung so I'd rather discourage the nest building. So every spring through summer I'm on watch. I constantly walk around inspecting the under-eaves of my house, shed and garage. This year I managed to find the start of a nest with only one hornet working hard to build it.

 

Shortly after destroying all that hornet's hard work, I saw an article online on natural pest control methods and one of their ideas was how to keep hornets from making nests. It seems a hornet will not start a nest if it's within 200 feet of another. It's a territorial thing.  The remedy? Psych them out with fake ones! That calls for a papier mache project!

 

 

 

 

 

 

I used balloons I blew up about halfway, strips of old newspaper coated with papier mache mix, or flour and water the poor-person's papier mache. Since I'm gluten-free I bought a small amount of bulk flour and used gloves when applying it to the paper strips.

 

 

 

 

I hung them to dry so they wouldn't be flat on one side. It's summer so I can do this out in my garage, unlike winter art projects which I have to do in the house.

 

 

 

 

The next layer of papier mache I used paper towels in hopes of giving it a little texture so it looks more like a hornets' nest.

 

 

 

 

 

Then I painted them with gray paint made with exterior latex house paint tinted with acrylic black.



 

 

I hung one on the garage, on the side of the house, and on the shed.

 

 

 

This one looks the most realistic because it's not so perfectly round. I think the balloon popped inside before it dried. I like it the best.

 

 

 

I'm also back to making beads only now I can do it out in the garage so it's not so messy. The set up is much more efficient:

 

 

Summer projects!!

'Possum Wrangling Retirement...Correction: SEMI-RETIREMENT!

Not a peep out of any opossum since the day after I shipped Santy Claws out to the hinterlands. I'm a little disappointed. I was hoping to catch a second opossum so Santy Claws would have his friend with him. No noise. No sightings. I can only imagine the second opossum must have realize after that first night Santy Claws was missing and went looking for him, leaving for good. Or something else was making the noise and I have no idea what it was.

I hope it's all over. I removed the trap and will soon return it to my neighbor. Hopefully for good.

Well, that lasted a few days!  I notice something is adjusting the netting again so either the friend of Santy Claws was here checking on him or something else knows about the hole. Here we go again! It feels like my fortress is under siege. The Winter War. Last night I put the trap back out there right next to the hole and found nothing to show for my efforts the next morning. So frustrating.

The Hole. Hmmm.... Years ago I hired a crawlspace/insulation person to put screening under the house to keep the critters out. Today, as a last ditch effort to secure the perimeter,  I got desperate, donned a very un-fashionable construction-man jumpsuit, hat, gloves, goggles, boots and using an extension cord with a light bulb on the end of it ventured under the house. Nasty place. It's like evil lives there. Dark, damp, cobwebs with big ugly spiders and remnants of things they've devoured. And then there is the cayenne pepper I've thrown all over in hopes of sanctifying the evil and discouraging the creepy crawlies. Sure enough one of the critters figured out how to bend the screen back to create a nice little hole to slip through. I plugged it up with bricks and readjusted the screen.  I feel fortunate to have survived the expedition.

Then I sneezed for the next hour while my eyes watered uncontrollably. I'm not sure why Santy Claws doesn't care about the cayenne pepper?

Update: Not a peep. I think the war has been won.

'Possum Yummies: Round Eleven

I'm becoming a connoisseur of 'possum delectables.

 

Camping food for the outdoorsy sort.

 

I don't know if the hot dogs are as sweet smelling as the luncheon meat.

 But the marshmallows are!

 

 

 

I added some smelly jelly, but I think that will just make everything sticky.

 

 

What opossum can resist such a feast?

 

I'm leaving the trap where it is. Wish me luck!

 

 

Round Ten

Feeling pretty defeated after two weeks of 'possum wrangling and no opossum to show for it, I called the Wildlife Control company in my area. I got a voice message saying to leave a message. I didn't. I decided I'd call them tomorrow. I had a little more fight left in me although I'm not sure where I got the energy having spent most of the night listening to Santy Claws tap dance underneath my house.

I needed a new plan. I bought some luncheon meat as suggested by my trapper-neighbor. It was either that or marshmallows and luncheon meat was half the price. If I catch the neighbor's cat, he gets a free trip to no where. Not like I haven't fantasized about that! After much contemplation, I selected the "Honey Turkey" flavor thinking Santy Claws would like that best. I ran into my friend at checkout and told her I was grocery shopping for a opossum. A OPOSSUM!!! Unbelievable. She laughed.

I also moved the trap. Obviously it wasn't working at the shed even though that is where a Santy Claws hole is located. I went to the other known hole on the other side of the house next to the driveway and unblocked it, removing all the chicken wire, boulders and boards. The place where I first met Santy Claws. I thought, "It has come full circle...." I unblocked the hole, set up the trap just right so he couldn't get wily and trip it, sprinkled tuna juice and salmon juice all around, and strategically placed the honey turkey front and center on top the apple cores, blueberries, tuna, and bananas that were already in the trap although a little soggy from the last rain. I placed boards over the trap to shield it from the rain. I blocked the shed hole. This was my last hope. If it didn't work, I planned to call Wildlife Control and pay some big bucks to have a brave soul venture into the crawlspace and yank the Santy Claws out by his tail. Why can't I catch a opossum like everyone else? Woe is me.

The great thing about this new set up is it's right under my bedroom window. For the last two weeks I'd been getting up in the middle of the night to peer out the window in hopes of seeing the success of my efforts. It's been exhausting. I hoped instead of hearing hours of tap dancing I would hear a nice big BANG as the trap door closed shut. I left my window open so I wouldn't miss the excitement.

At 11:30pm I awoke to a slight, soft rattling noise. Hmmmm...one is never sure about noises in the middle of the night. I listened and waited. Then another rattle...rattle...rattle...BANG! BANG! BANG! Santy Claws was not too happy about being a prisoner. It sounded like he was annihilating the cage or someone was rolling it down the driveway. I just laid there smiling.

Awww...so cute.

 

I considered letting him sit in that trap until morning as punishment for his bad behavior, but I knew I wouldn't get any sleep. Considering how clever he is, I was afraid he'd somehow figure out how to open the door and sneak out. I wouldn't get another chance for sure. And I wanted to let him loose in the dark so he would feel more comfortable in a strange place.

He was so cute!  Fluffy fat body with a tiny little face and beautiful, beady eyes. When I'd get close to the cage he'd get real still and stare at me. Not a mean bone in his little body. No growling, snarling, hissing or showing of fangs. I kinda wanted to cuddle with him. He also ate all the food so at least he would be full and satisfied when I dumped him out in the middle of no where.



"OK, I ate everything. Now let me out."

At exactly midnight, Santy Claws had a new home about two miles away, up a logging road, in the woods, where I dump all my garden clippings. Lots of places for him to hide and far from a highway. I can't believe I was driving around in the woods at midnight.



A Opossum Possessed! LET ME OUTTA HERE!

Adios, Santy Claws! Don't come back! I'm so happy he's no longer using my insulation for a bed and overjoyed that he was not poisoned and dead under my house. You can't imagine how wonderful I felt! Total satisfaction.

For about a day...the next morning the tapping started again. Santy Claws must have a friend. I need some more Honey Turkey luncheon meat. Maybe I'll buy some marshmallows for his dessert.

The joys of country living.