Sticky Things...
9So I seem to have seen a few “sticky” animals on my way home tonight.
First, I stopped at the gas station. When I got out to pump gas, I found this cute little fella waiting to say “hi”!
Upon arriving home I noticed this guy taking a ride on the garage door. He had me worried he would get hurt, but rest assured he was OK. I checked!!
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Did we ever get a camera bird update?
@therealjrn oh I don’t think I did!
So the snakes/lizards did not work. I think they were too small as the birds just sat next to them or pushed them out of their way.
Then a cousin purchased a spray that is suppose to deter wild animals. It was super stinky and did NOT work.
The birds are currently enjoying rent free living on my porch…there are up to five of them every night.
I want to try one of those fake owls, someone told me that might deter them, but haven’t purchased it just yet.
TL:DR Birds 2- Tina 0
@therealjrn I just checked, I have three little birdies tonight! If only I could teach them to attack at the hint of danger…
@tinamarie1974 Get thee some “scare tape”. It’s holographic reflective ribbon. The sight and sound of it flapping around in a breeze frightens birds and persuades them to find a different home. Search Amz for bird scare tape. Usually $10/roll or less.
/image scare tape
@ruouttaurmind oohhh I will try it. Thanks
@ruouttaurmind @tinamarie1974 Never heard of that. Does it actually work?
@lseeber @ruouttaurmind I am ordering it today. Will let you know
@lseeber @ruouttaurmind @tinamarie1974
That’s what you told us about the snakes.
@lseeber @ruouttaurmind @therealjrn well technically I DID. See
Epic fail, the birds laugh at me when I walk out on the porch now, well when they are not dive bombing my head. 
I even posted a pic of my favorite pair of boots last night. That has got to count for something…
@lseeber @tinamarie1974 When I seed my lawn it’s like a bird buffet out there. Dozens of doves and quails feasting their heart’s content. I started tying that ribbon to the trees and a couple stakes in the ground and only a handful braved the gauntlet for a quick snack, but they wouldn’t stick around like they used to. So in my case, yes, it worked. YMMV, but for a sawbuck, it might be worth a try.
@tinamarie1974 When I worked on boats some had fake owls in the rigging and the captains swore they helped keep the gulls away. I am not sure I noticed much of a difference.
I can tell you that setting off a cannon with the bore diameter the size of a beer can (umm yeah we did shoot a beer can over to a friend on a tug boat which he foolishly opened after fishing it out of the water - opened it in the wheelhouse - and the proceeded to swear at us over the radio due to his beer shower) scares the shit out of sea gulls and other birds. About 6:30am one quiet Saturday morning we shot it off (shooting the beer over to Lane) and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of sea gulls took to flight instantly clearing the James River Bridge of any birds (mouth of the Chesapeake Bay on the James River by downtown Newport News). Seriously nice echo through downtown. I am sure people hated us
@Kidsandliz I am betting that is effective, but not practical on the porch
hoping the tape works! 
@tinamarie1974 Well a cannon would be lots of fun shooting that off on your porch… Try that.
@Kidsandliz nnooooo I kinda like my house…
@tinamarie1974 With just smoke powder in it then it goes bang, gives off some smoke and nothing else. Aim at the street if you want. In fact put a frozen hot dog down the bore (so the cannon will be maybe 1.5 or so feet long) and see how far you can shoot it. We managed about an arc that peaked at about 15 feet vertically while also traveling vertically across maybe 20 or so feet of water. Hit the side of the Fitzgerald in NYC during the parade of sail - we joke we were the first people who got away with shooting a loaded weapon at a sitting president (theoretically he was on that air craft carrier somewhere). The beer can in the James River Bridge seagull epic was in a full size replica 1600’s cannon and it went a lot further (was just after the replica Susan Constance got her cannons - first voyage with the cannons).
Saw one of these guys on the porch screen. He’s a little early; I’m sure he’s got cousins on the way.
@mike808 cicada?
@tinamarie1974 Yup.
@mike808 I have been hearing them in the woods around my house. Very happy I have not seen them yet
@mike808 @tinamarie1974 I used to collect their shells when I was a kid.
@mike808 @ybmuG my moms dog use to eat them. She LOVED cicadas; totally grossed me out!
@mike808 one flew in my shop a few weeks ago and kept noisily buzzing around me trying to fly at the lights. I tried to shoo it away and finally it disappeared.
A few minutes later I sat down at the workbench to get back to soldering. Just as I’m holding the hot tip to the piece it pops out from behind my soldering station base and crawls onto my arm. I know they’re harmless but they’re pretty big so I’m not a huge fan.
I grabbed it with a paper towel and took it outside to shake him out into the grass. It wouldn’t let go of the towel and I wound up losing the whole assemblage down the hill when I shook a little too much.
@tinamarie1974 two out of three of my dogs love to eat them. The bigger one will run around with one in her mouth making its cicada noises while I try to get it away from her. Then when she’s had enough of that game she’ll trot off a couple of steps out of reach and commence crunching. After that she thinks it’s time to give me kisses. Yuck!
@mike808 Yeah…their carcasses are stuck all over a crepe myrtle in my yard I noticed last week.
I do love going outside tho and listening to the crescendo.
@djslack @mike808 always with the kisses after.that or licking delicate spots!
My mom had a pomeranian that use to love them. You would see her fall on her back and wiggle around. We thought something was wrong with her (eg. Seizures ). Nope, she was knocking them out so she could eat them!
@mike808
That shell looks a whole lot more like the shell of a dragonfly. Is your picture from somewhere close to water?
Dragonfly Nymph
Cicada Shell
/giphy actually
Katydid! They are more often heard than seen around here, whereas the treefrogs seem to be equal parts seen and heard. LOL.
@PooltoyWolf Oh no she di’int!
@PocketBrain @PooltoyWolf
@blaineg @PocketBrain @PooltoyWolf Hey! That’s a great album. Thanks for the reminder! Now I’ll be singing “Reelin In the Years” & “Hey Nineteen” for days!
@blaineg @PocketBrain Love it!
Sometimes I’m ridiculous. If I see a hitchhiker on my car if possible, I generally turn off a side street and stop and knock it off so that it doesn’t blow off in traffic and just die. I even slow down driving before I do that! Duh!
Then I come home (like yest) and want to kill all the deer that are jumping my fence and eating my hedges and greenery!
@lseeber I do the same and even stop to help turtles cross the road! It is a good thing
@lseeber @tinamarie1974 This time of year the quail are having their broods (at least 2, sometimes 3 times a year) and they’re on the roads in large groups of 10 to 20, scooting around randomly in their clueless way - the babies are the size of your thumb when they first come out. I had to make a sign so that visitors or delivery people don’t run them over:
@tinamarie1974 Oh, I’ve done the turtle also. A couple tho… were HUGE snappers and if you pick one of them up, you have to hold it way at the back end. They were way to big and heavy for me to do that and I wasn’t willing to lose a hand so I just get a big stick and poke/push them along. They’re stubborn and heavy. Takes a while, lol.
“Look ma! No hands!”
@stolicat @tinamarie1974 What area are the quail in? I’ve never seen them crossing anywhere in my neck of the woods.
@lseeber bonus points for being nice to turtles!
/giphy turtles
@lseeber @stolicat @tinamarie1974
I have pulled over and carried a number of foolish turtles off of the road and back down to their creeks.
And I have roundly cursed a few deer which jumped out of the woods and right in front of my car maybe 6’ away or so. When the road was otherwise empty for miles around.
Fortunately, I never hit a deer.
Now, when I am driving in a “deer-jump-out area” late at night on an empty road, I slow down, take the center lane (if there is one), turn on my brights, and sometime turn on my flashers. Hoping to discourage the daredevils.
@lseeber @tinamarie1974 The SF Bay Area is awash with quail, especially this year. In the 1 mile drive in the house, I’ve counted 6 separate coveys of up to 25 birds. Oddly enough, the only place without quail around here is San Francsico itself (it’s official) - the large numbers of dogs and cats being the accepted reason.
@stolicat @tinamarie1974 Oh… okay. That explains that. I’m in Alabama so around here, vultures and turkeys are the winged creatures generally on the roads. Although, when the geese are around you have to be careful for them.
@lseeber @tinamarie1974 we had turkeys nesting this year up the hill. Nothing quite as odd-looking as an adolescent turkey - they look like little pink dinosaurs with scraggly feathers. Luckily, they’re nomadic and the flock has moved on …
@lseeber @stolicat @tinamarie1974 The majestic turkey was almost our national bird. They made the eagle on the back of Franklin’s $100 bill smaller as a nod to his opposition of the eagle in favor of the turkey.
@lseeber @stolicat @therealjrn I actually knew about the turkey. Thank goodness we went with something a bit more majestic. Interesting fact about the printing!
Where do you live that you have quail crossing the road?
@star2236 see above reply …
We get green lizards crawling all over, up the sides of buildings, etc… My cats love to eat them, and crickets, and grasshoppers… Umm well and American and German cockroaches which they will play with, and eventually kill, but not eat (well they all eat them once, puke them up, then don’t do that again).
One night one of my cats was going bonkers on my bed at maybe 3am. Running around my bed, jumping off and then jumping back on. I turned on a light. Cat was playing with a cockroach. When it would fall off the bed she’d jump down and get it gently in her mouth and liberate it on my bed again to be able to play with it some more. I wrecked her fun and threw it out the window.
@Kidsandliz blue tailed skinks around here. They are super fast
@Kidsandliz ewww on the cockroach on the bed!
I get the little green anoles all the time at my old house, sunbathing on the bricks. They’re sooo cute. They got in the house a lot and I’d try to catch them and put them out, occasionally failing.
The dogs usually went after the blue tails but if they got one, it would make them sick.
One time we found a copperhead wove in and around the bricks on the side of the house baking in the sun too.