animal damage

In full force!

/ Re-Farmer / 1 Comment

The melting is happening at full force right now!

Yesterday, we ended up reaching a high of 7C/45F, and it was still above freezing, well past midnight. Today’s high was supposed to be 3C/37F but, as I write this, at almost 3pm, we’re at 5C/41F, with a “feels like” of 9C/48F!

The cats aren’t the only creatures loving the warmth!

When I came outside to feed them, I found a couple of odd things. The first was clumps of snow all over the well cap. I clear that, because some of the outside cats like to eat there, away from the other cats. There’s a pile of snow beside it from shoveling paths clear, and something had been digging into the pile, kicking chunks of snow all over, and creating tunnels into the pile.

That wasn’t the only thing dug up.

This is the roof of the cat house. Not only is the snow dug up, pieces of shingles have been torn of!

I’d say, racoons.

The roof of that cat house makes sense, since we normally drop food on there. Quite a few of the cats prefer to eat on the roof instead of at ground level.

As for the pile of snow, we’ve had snowfalls that covered kibble that was on the well cap. When I shoveled it clear, those bits of kibble ended up on the snow pile. The racoons must have been able to smell them, and were digging to find the food!

After feeding the cats and continuing my rounds, I remembered to grab a shovel and clear some snow so the two sides of the gate can be opened wider. The paths through the snow in certain areas were full of frozen pools of water, from yesterday’s melt. It was already warm enough for things to start melting again, so it was very slippery. We haven’t been able to make it to the dump lately, with the storms, and I was planning to do it today. Since we can’t drive into the yard, though, we’d have to carry the garbage to the garage. I was needing to use the snow shovel as a walking stick to keep from slipping. There was no way we could make multiple trips to the garage while carrying bags, safely.

The dump trip will have to wait.

I did end up having to go into town again today, though. One of the places I needed to go is a mini department store, so I made a point of looking at their rubber boots. The last time I got rubber boots, I had a hard time finding any that could fit over my calves. I ended up getting a pair that fit my feet, then cut the boots off above the ankles. One of the boots from that pair now has a bit crack across the top of the foot, so they are now useless. With the troubles I had before, I didn’t have much hope in finding a pair that fit.

Much to my surprise, not only did I find boots that fit over my calves (even if a bit on the tight side), they were wide enough at the feet that, instead of my usual men’s size 9’s, I was able to get size 8’s! I haven’t been able to wear size 8 shoes in decades! On top of that, the price was actually reasonable – just under $35.

When I got home and my younger daughter helped me put things away, I got her to try them on, since she has the same trouble finding shoes and boots that fit that I do. Happily, they fit her, too! There was even room for a pair of insoles she happened to have spares of.

Now we just need to see if they will fit my older daughter, too. She has an even harder time finding shoes that fit right than I do!

You know, I never thought I’d see the day where I would be so excited over being able to find a pair of rubber boots that fit. 😂😂

It’s going to make my morning rounds much more pleasant, though! Not to mention just going to the compost pile. That path is completely flooded out. I didn’t bother checking, but that would mean the low area in the path to the back door of the garage, and the outhouse, would be a lake right now.

We’ve got a few more days above freezing ahead of us, but the long range forecast now says we’ll have a high of only -8C/18F by Sunday, and that the highs will stay below freezing for at least the next week after that. Considering how often the forecasts change, though, I’m not holding much stock to that right now. We shall see what actually happens!

For now, we – and the outside cats – are going to enjoy the warmth and the melting snow!

The Re-Farmer

Running on empty

/ Re-Farmer / 2 Comments

I guess it’s a good thing our washing machine didn’t come in. It means we are NOT driving to the city today. Right now, I’m glad to not have to make the trip. For some reason, I had a sleepless night, and am running on empty. I did finally get a few hours of sleep, but not until after 6am!

Thank God my “job” is to take care of this place, where we can be flexible in how and when we take care of things, depending on schedules, health issues and the weather.

Speaking of weather, today is going to be a good day to have no energy and stay inside.

We’re looking at a high of 32C/90F this afternoon, with the humidex bringing it to 42C/107F.

The storms I’d been tracking on the weather radar over the past couple of days not only passed us by, but even the rain we were expecting didn’t materialize. With 88% humidity, it was decidedly muggy when I did my rounds this morning! It does look like we got some sort of drizzle this morning, at least.

Unfortunately, it also meant I didn’t have the energy to clean up the mess the skunk made this morning. After cleaning up in the old kitchen and sun room, we had two large garbage bags set aside on the patio blocks by the main entry, waiting for our next dump run. For some reason, the skunk tore one of them apart. We found him in there this morning, still burrowing. These bags have no food garbage in them. What was the skunk after in there?

We really need to build a box to hold our garbage bags until we can get to the dump.

Then, when I went to check on the squash beds, I discovered a little gourd plant dug up. It was one of the ones that finally came up in the seed tray, long after the others had been transplanted, so I wasn’t expecting anything from it. Yet, it also seems to have been the only surviving gourd plant. Birdhouse gourds are a climbing vine, and it had enough tendrils that I gave it its own bamboo pole to climb and was starting to train it upwards. I doubt it will survive, but I put it back. Whatever the skunk was digging for was under the vine, and once it was aside the skunk left it be. The plant itself is undamaged, but the damage to the roots might be too much.

There had never been a lot of gourd seeds that germinated, but I know there had been several among the transplants. I was pretty sure I’d been able to put mostly gourds along the back row in the squash bed, but none of what’s growing there have tendrils. Now that I know which ones are the sunburst squash, that means all the others are from the Summer Surprise mix of different zucchini.

I’m kinda disappointed. I had really hoped to have some birdhouse gourds for future crafting! They require a year to dry out before they can be used, so this was already a long term plan.

Ah, well. I’ve since found a website that specializes in different types of gourds. The next time I try to grow them, I will order some different varieties from there. There is bound to be something that will grow in our region, and hopefully, we will be better able to protect them from the elements – and digging skunks! – too.

The Re-Farmer

Destructive deer!

/ Re-Farmer / 1 Comment

While walking about the yard this morning, there are areas that I can see where the deer have gone.

Along the edge of the spruce grove, there are now several areas like this.

20181113.deer.marks

This patch is new.  It wasn’t there yesterday.  At the end of the row of spruces, near the feeding station, there is a patch they’ve been pawing at for a while, now, and it’s getting quite big.

I think, in the process of clearing out that area and taking out the bottom branches of the spruces, I also gave them better access to something in the moss that they like.  I can’t see what it might be, though.

While continuing around the yard and by the garage, I noticed deer tracks coming from the barn towards the yard, so I followed them.

Then I noticed something odd about one of the wire holders for the renter’s electric fence at the gate.  It looked bent.

That’s new.

Heading over, I started to find wire.

Lots of it.

So I started gathering it up.

20181113.deer.damage1

Here is most of it, along with the holder that is bent the most.

20181113.deer.damage2

The other one turned out to be bent, too.  The wire is still running through it.  Considering how much wire got dragged into our side of the fence, I think it may well have broken loose right at the solar battery area.  Which is almost at the other end of the fence.

In case there was any doubt as to what rapscallions did the damage…

20181113.deer.damage.tracks

There were plenty of tracks, showing exactly where they came through!

The fence wire would not be easily visible, and with the cows moved out for the winter, the electric fence probably doesn’t even have electricity running through it right now.  The deer probably didn’t see it to jump over it, and would not have felt any shock to cause them to back away when they touched it.

We like the deer coming around enough to put up with any damage they do; there isn’t a lot.  But this is a bit more than just digging up the yard.  The wire should be fine and just need to be re-attached.  I believe those wire holders are new, from the last time the cows broke through.  I know the renter likes the deer, too, and this sort of thing is just what we have to live with when living around here.  I just called to let him know about the damage.  With no cows here, there’s no hurry to fix it.

The Re-Farmer