@brainmist@yakkoTDI they are and they are very prolific. They started as two 3" pots and in 3 months grew so much I had to split them in to six pots, the two original and the four shown. I’m going to give them as Christmas presents. All in all, I highly recommend them.
@yakkoTDI its a long thin strip of soil infront of where lots of different flowers are planted. I saw these little ones at the local Home Depot and Supposedly they are perennial in my area, so fingers crossed. And hope they spread because they were very expensive
@brainmist@Kyeh@Star2236@tinamarie1974@yakkoTDI I wish more varieties were able to be planted outside. It’s why mine are in pots and will be brought inside in about a month. Those are so pretty!
@brainmist@kjady@Kyeh@Star2236@yakkoTDI yours are very pretty and clearly you have a green thumb!! I am not great, so I have to find plants that I can plant and just mulch and weed on the regular. I have a drip irrigation system that is set on a timer to water everything, otherwise I would forget!!
@Kidsandliz Thanks! I’m at the end of the 10-day isolation and still testing positive, but the covid itself wasn’t that bad. I was devastated when I lost my senses of taste and smell (worried they might be gone for good), but everything seems to be trickling back.
On Monday morning, I will drive four hours each way to spend one hour being interviewed by a professional who will (presumably) then hand me a letter certifying my fitness and need for something that will likely take three to four months for me to get. During the rest of the week, I’ll be hauling out of bed early to print T-shirts for my wholesale customers. By Noon, it’s intolerably hot in the shop.
Gonna try to get the automated chicken door up and get them acclimated to it so I don’t have to sweat going out at dusk to make sure the wild critters don’t eat their ass…
Also gotta also see WTF is wrong with some of the pool equip after several close lightning strikes. Will most likely have to box up the pool vac robot to get it fixed since I think the control box got toasted. And I need to replace the 220v timer for the pump and figure out why it was ‘squealing’ (according to SWMBO) tonight while I was at work.
And I need to mow, pick figs, do routine pool maintenance and go to an appointment for pre-op on a total hip later in the month.
Oh and finally get my STAR certified state DL for upcoming travels.
So basically… just the same ole shit…
@Kyeh LOL, unfortunately, this is rather a bit past the PastaBox capacity (I already had to throw out my precious cheeses!) and plus, PastaBox is serving very effectively to keep mice out of my dry goods. I’m in a semi-urban area and have dogs, and yet field mice are a perpetual issue. sigh Made much, much worse by a friend who meant to help but re-organized my pantry with the most mouse-tempting things at the bottom.
@brainmist Oh NO… I’ve had trouble with mice although less now that I have a younger cat. With my senior cats the mice would run right past them without a qualm.
@Kyeh My lil girl tries mousing hard, but they have a distinct head start. And spent a bit getting used to navigating the cupboards, thanks to the cat-owning, well intentioned friend.
I’ve been throwing out a lot of food these past few years…
@brainmist@Kyeh I had a big field mouse invasion about 2 years ago. also it was after my cat died so no mouse patrol on the job anymore. But most of all when I was away for the Winter, they discovered a huge trove of food items in boxes and bags. even things I assumed were sealed and secure. yes, including at least some of the large PastaDrop loot. I found little troves of pasta in my garage, yet I never stored the pasta in my garage! but they relocated it.
so I got only rugged fully sealed hard plastic or glass containers. obviously not having so much stuff in the first place is also advisable.
and I don’t like using poisons or traps. maybe it’s my inner Buddhist. I did try the little plastic ‘live’ traps where you have to take them on a nice drive in the countryside, and they do work but haven’t done those lately. because this year it’s much better but I did find evidence that a few are still around. mostly taking away their food source was the key.
I am in need of a new cat or two. my last cat even in his older days still had a little bit of mouser in him. (and occasionally a little bit of mouse too)
@Kyeh@pmarin LOL, if my neighborhood ferals could get along with the doggoes and wanted to hold down the mouse population? I’d be all in. Total health/ food support.
Unfortunately, I think we’d see some dogs killing cats.
@pmarin@brainmist Could you add another dog? Aren’t terriers supposed to be fierce mousers?
I resorted to death traps one year when the mice were seriously out of control - running across the room in plain sight, etc. I put one by a spot behind my stove and caught 10 in one day! Not pleasant but I felt I really had to do it.
@brainmist@Kyeh@pmarin Go to a hardware store and get bobcat urine. Put it on cotton balls and the mice will leave. There is an odor with it, but it dissipates pretty quickly. Costs about $7 or so.
@macromeh Mice don’t like strong smells because they stop the mice from locating food sources or smelling other mouse trails. Peppermint is the usual choice for a repellant because it smells good to resident humans, but any very strong-smelling oil (like clove) works the same way. It will repel mice from coming in but it won’t make the ones already there leave.
Mice have two reasons for finding a way in: a source of food or a safe/warm place to nest and produce more mice. I’ve done my best to keep all food sources safely stashed in airtight containers, but one loose lid on a storage box is enough for a major invasion. I’ve also cleaned a closet and found a big stash of birdseed - which was only in a sealed metal can in the garage and in a birdfeeder about 20 feet from the house. A food stash meant a nest somewhere nearby, so I had to go look for that.
I will not use poisons. Poisoned mice will either go outside looking for water and be eaten by wildlife or they will find a secluded spot (usually inside a wall) to die. When my main bathroom was gutted for renovation we found two dead mice and the remains of a poison packet, apparently used by the previous owners. I don’t use “humane” traps either because released too close they come back. Released further out they have no way to find food, so they either get eaten or slowly starve. I use good-quality snap traps. Properly set and positioned, they kill instantly, which seems a lot more humane to me, but others may see it differently.
I know that I can never really seal all of the possible entrances, but when I do find one, I try to stuff it with fine steel wool before covering it over. Steel wool or copper mesh stops rodents. Of course, they will just look for another way in. It’s a neverending battle.
@macromeh@rockblossom Bobcat urine works because they are natural predators, not because of the strong smell. It wouldn’t keep them from finding other sources of food or anything else. It would be like they smell a new ‘cat’ in the neighborhood, and they all leave…even the ones in the house.
Also, if you’re trying to find out where they are, sprinkle a bit of flour around, then in a day or so use a blacklight and see their tracks. (not too much flour, they will eat it)
Just a thought…
Hopefully, I’ll be getting a kitchen floor this week! I had a water leak that rotted out the floor and part of the foundation, got all of that fixed, now I need a floor. It’s been horrible trying to find someone to do it at a reasonable price!
If you’re in the Dallas area and need a good plumber and foundation company, let me know!
I Wish that my Room had a Floor!
I don’t so Much Care for a Door,
But this Crawling Around
Without Touching the Ground
Is Getting to be Quite a Bore!
- Gelett Burgess
It’s back to school week this week, so all my efforts will be spent trying to get the kids into some semblance of a routine. I’ll probably fail epically but I’ll give it a try.
My wife and her sister are taking their mom on a 2 week road trip (from NW Oregon) to South Dakota starting Tuesday. Mom is 88 now and her health is declining, so this is probably her last trip to visit family.
So I will be adding my wife’s chores to my own, which mostly involves laundry, some garden/house plant tending and dealing with the chickens. And I really hate the chicken chores - (damn feathered lizards ).
And just to make it even more fun, we are forecast for triple digit temps this week.
@Kidsandliz I would think that there are better ways to get exercise that don’t include the neighbors showing up at your house with torches and pitchforks. OTOH, running from a crowd that is out for your blood is also good aerobic exercise.
On the other other hand, for the three-handed folk, maybe Amazon delivery drones flying overhead can be treated as skeet. A good shot even comes with a prize!
I’m 6 weeks post-op from rotator cuff surgery, so I’m enjoying doctor-ordered laziness. I don’t have to wear the sling/cushion combo any more, but I still have 6 more weeks of PT to get my range of motion and strength back.
I have to do all those things every week.
Some of them, every day.
New tyres for the wagon.
@yakkoTDI Tyres? Ooh, fancy.
@blaineg @yakkoTDI Wagon apparently drives on the « wrong » side of the road.
I already repotted my watch chain succulents. What more do you want?
@kjady Pictures of said succulents.
@yakkoTDI
@kjady Thank you.
@kjady @yakkoTDI Um these are beautiful.
@brainmist @yakkoTDI they are and they are very prolific. They started as two 3" pots and in 3 months grew so much I had to split them in to six pots, the two original and the four shown. I’m going to give them as Christmas presents. All in all, I highly recommend them.
@brainmist @kjady @yakkoTDI Speaking of succulents, I just saw a story about this amusing variety.
https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/plants/this-bizarre-little-succulent-looks-like-a-babys-butt
@brainmist @kjady @Kyeh @yakkoTDI
Those look like teeth and gums to me more than peoples bottoms.
@brainmist @kjady @Kyeh @Star2236 @yakkoTDI I recently started growing succulents in my garden. Hoping they spread quickly!!
@tinamarie1974 Very nice garden. I will hide my jealousy until I can get a house of my own to surround with succulents.
@yakkoTDI its a long thin strip of soil infront of where lots of different flowers are planted. I saw these little ones at the local Home Depot and
Supposedly they are perennial in my area, so fingers crossed. And hope they spread because they were very expensive
@tinamarie1974 @yakkoTDI
That looks really pretty!
@Kyeh @yakkoTDI thanks
@brainmist @Kyeh @Star2236 @tinamarie1974 @yakkoTDI I wish more varieties were able to be planted outside. It’s why mine are in pots and will be brought inside in about a month. Those are so pretty!
@brainmist @kjady @Kyeh @Star2236 @yakkoTDI yours are very pretty and clearly you have a green thumb!! I am not great, so I have to find plants that I can plant and just mulch and weed on the regular. I have a drip irrigation system that is set on a timer to water everything, otherwise I would forget!!
Run wire and put drywall up in my house.
@Yombleflobber
… bless you. I don’t mind wiring or putting up drywall but I HATE sheetrock finishing.
@chienfou Sanding taped seams and all those damn screw dots, yeah, no thenkyew. But running Romex with the studs exposed, hell yes.
I’m going to not have covid anymore, hopefully. Maybe mow the lawn. Then do all the stuff I didn’t do all week because I had covid.
@mossygreen Hope you feel better soon!
@Kidsandliz Thanks! I’m at the end of the 10-day isolation and still testing positive, but the covid itself wasn’t that bad. I was devastated when I lost my senses of taste and smell (worried they might be gone for good), but everything seems to be trickling back.
@mossygreen that’s encouraging. Some of the newer variants apparently you don’t get as sick unless you have other issues. Hope you get back to 100%
@Kidsandliz @mossygreen
Loosing your sense of taste and smell is horrible. I get like that from really bad sinus infections and food is just blah.
On Monday morning, I will drive four hours each way to spend one hour being interviewed by a professional who will (presumably) then hand me a letter certifying my fitness and need for something that will likely take three to four months for me to get. During the rest of the week, I’ll be hauling out of bed early to print T-shirts for my wholesale customers. By Noon, it’s intolerably hot in the shop.
@werehatrack And now I am told that the lead time is probably six months. Joy.
Stuff in the yard.
Optometrist appointment.
Renew Driver’s License.
Gonna try to get the automated chicken door up and get them acclimated to it so I don’t have to sweat going out at dusk to make sure the wild critters don’t eat their ass…
Also gotta also see WTF is wrong with some of the pool equip after several close lightning strikes. Will most likely have to box up the pool vac robot to get it fixed since I think the control box got toasted. And I need to replace the 220v timer for the pump and figure out why it was ‘squealing’ (according to SWMBO) tonight while I was at work.
And I need to mow, pick figs, do routine pool maintenance and go to an appointment for pre-op on a total hip later in the month.
Oh and finally get my STAR certified state DL for upcoming travels.
So basically… just the same ole shit…
@chienfou You have automated chickens? And they get their own door?!
@chienfou @yakkoTDI Pretty much all the chickens I have seen are automated (except the ones in the grocery stores.)
Put the trash out on Wednesday. Such a bother. Every week.
Anything else is just way too much work.
I’m going to try to replace the failed fridge. Ugh. So much ugh. Why couldn’t it have failed in winter? Ugh.
@brainmist
At least you have a
very large cooler
– right?
@Kyeh LOL, unfortunately, this is rather a bit past the PastaBox capacity (I already had to throw out my precious cheeses!) and plus, PastaBox is serving very effectively to keep mice out of my dry goods. I’m in a semi-urban area and have dogs, and yet field mice are a perpetual issue. sigh Made much, much worse by a friend who meant to help but re-organized my pantry with the most mouse-tempting things at the bottom.
@brainmist Oh NO… I’ve had trouble with mice although less now that I have a younger cat. With my senior cats the mice would run right past them without a qualm.
@Kyeh My lil girl tries mousing hard, but they have a distinct head start. And spent a bit getting used to navigating the cupboards, thanks to the cat-owning, well intentioned friend.
I’ve been throwing out a lot of food these past few years…
@brainmist I keep trying to use up what’s in my cupboards and freezer so none of it goes stale. Not always successful…
@brainmist @Kyeh I had a big field mouse invasion about 2 years ago. also it was after my cat died
so no mouse patrol on the job anymore. But most of all when I was away for the Winter, they discovered a huge trove of food items in boxes and bags. even things I assumed were sealed and secure. yes, including at least some of the large PastaDrop loot. I found little troves of pasta in my garage, yet I never stored the pasta in my garage! but they relocated it.
so I got only rugged fully sealed hard plastic or glass containers. obviously not having so much stuff in the first place is also advisable.
and I don’t like using poisons or traps. maybe it’s my inner Buddhist. I did try the little plastic ‘live’ traps where you have to take them on a nice drive in the countryside, and they do work but haven’t done those lately. because this year it’s much better but I did find evidence that a few are still around. mostly taking away their food source was the key.
I am in need of a new cat or two. my last cat even in his older days still had a little bit of mouser in him. (and occasionally a little bit of mouse too)
@brainmist @pmarin It shouldn’t be too hard to find some new cats!
@Kyeh @pmarin The difficulty is getting the dogs to not eat any cats.
@pmarin @brainmist Oh, I wasn’t thinking that you’d want to get cats!
@Kyeh @pmarin I’m very reluctant on poisons, because of doggoes, even ineffectual ones.
I’m very sorry for your lost cat. We can recognize a need for function but that doesn’t make our poor grieving hearts more ready.
@Kyeh @pmarin LOL, if my neighborhood ferals could get along with the doggoes and wanted to hold down the mouse population? I’d be all in. Total health/ food support.
Unfortunately, I think we’d see some dogs killing cats.
sigh
@pmarin @brainmist Could you add another dog? Aren’t terriers supposed to be fierce mousers?
I resorted to death traps one year when the mice were seriously out of control - running across the room in plain sight, etc. I put one by a spot behind my stove and caught 10 in one day! Not pleasant but I felt I really had to do it.
@brainmist @Kyeh @pmarin Go to a hardware store and get bobcat urine. Put it on cotton balls and the mice will leave. There is an odor with it, but it dissipates pretty quickly. Costs about $7 or so.
@brainmist @Kyeh @pmarin @Tadlem43 I read recently that mice don’t like mint. I haven’t tried it myself, but it might be worth checking out.
@macromeh Mice don’t like strong smells because they stop the mice from locating food sources or smelling other mouse trails. Peppermint is the usual choice for a repellant because it smells good to resident humans, but any very strong-smelling oil (like clove) works the same way. It will repel mice from coming in but it won’t make the ones already there leave.
Mice have two reasons for finding a way in: a source of food or a safe/warm place to nest and produce more mice. I’ve done my best to keep all food sources safely stashed in airtight containers, but one loose lid on a storage box is enough for a major invasion. I’ve also cleaned a closet and found a big stash of birdseed - which was only in a sealed metal can in the garage and in a birdfeeder about 20 feet from the house. A food stash meant a nest somewhere nearby, so I had to go look for that.
I will not use poisons. Poisoned mice will either go outside looking for water and be eaten by wildlife or they will find a secluded spot (usually inside a wall) to die. When my main bathroom was gutted for renovation we found two dead mice and the remains of a poison packet, apparently used by the previous owners. I don’t use “humane” traps either because released too close they come back. Released further out they have no way to find food, so they either get eaten or slowly starve. I use good-quality snap traps. Properly set and positioned, they kill instantly, which seems a lot more humane to me, but others may see it differently.
I know that I can never really seal all of the possible entrances, but when I do find one, I try to stuff it with fine steel wool before covering it over. Steel wool or copper mesh stops rodents. Of course, they will just look for another way in. It’s a neverending battle.
@macromeh @rockblossom Bobcat urine works because they are natural predators, not because of the strong smell. It wouldn’t keep them from finding other sources of food or anything else. It would be like they smell a new ‘cat’ in the neighborhood, and they all leave…even the ones in the house.
Also, if you’re trying to find out where they are, sprinkle a bit of flour around, then in a day or so use a blacklight and see their tracks. (not too much flour, they will eat it)
Just a thought…
This week I return to the gym and restart my workouts. So, my major achievement is holding to that.
@hchavers Helping your health is always an achievement!
Driving all over tarnation Monday, then taxes and college financial aid negotiation. Wish me luck!
Hopefully, I’ll be getting a kitchen floor this week! I had a water leak that rotted out the floor and part of the foundation, got all of that fixed, now I need a floor. It’s been horrible trying to find someone to do it at a reasonable price!
If you’re in the Dallas area and need a good plumber and foundation company, let me know!
@Tadlem43 Congratulations!
I Wish that my Room had a Floor!
I don’t so Much Care for a Door,
But this Crawling Around
Without Touching the Ground
Is Getting to be Quite a Bore!
- Gelett Burgess
It’s back to school week this week, so all my efforts will be spent trying to get the kids into some semblance of a routine. I’ll probably fail epically but I’ll give it a try.
Empty out storage unit so we don’t have to pay for it any more.
My wife and her sister are taking their mom on a 2 week road trip (from NW Oregon) to South Dakota starting Tuesday. Mom is 88 now and her health is declining, so this is probably her last trip to visit family.
).
So I will be adding my wife’s chores to my own, which mostly involves laundry, some garden/house plant tending and dealing with the chickens. And I really hate the chicken chores - (damn feathered lizards
And just to make it even more fun, we are forecast for triple digit temps this week.
I’m going to step outside and collect the Amazon packages.
@OnionSoup your or are you going on a mystery Amazon box shopping spree in the neighborhood?
@Kidsandliz @OnionSoup Of the two, a stroll around the neighborhood with a jog home carrying a box IS better exercise!
@OnionSoup meant to say yours and not your
@OnionSoup @rockblossom well yes there is that. I wonder if that is justification enough to, umm, carry boxes home.
@Kidsandliz I would think that there are better ways to get exercise that don’t include the neighbors showing up at your house with torches and pitchforks. OTOH, running from a crowd that is out for your blood is also good aerobic exercise.
On the other other hand, for the three-handed folk, maybe Amazon delivery drones flying overhead can be treated as skeet. A good shot even comes with a prize!
@Kidsandliz neighbours Amazon packages…
… The original Instant Regret Kit, never know what you’re going to get.
@OnionSoup And you don’t have to get a tattoo to get it for free.
I’m 6 weeks post-op from rotator cuff surgery, so I’m enjoying doctor-ordered laziness. I don’t have to wear the sling/cushion combo any more, but I still have 6 more weeks of PT to get my range of motion and strength back.