Pesky Yard Animals: Some You Live With, Some You Get Rid Of...

Being a country girl, I always thought that I could live with any animals in my yard. I have had deer, possums, gophers, skunks, rabbits, squirrels, mallard ducks, woodchucks and now groundhogs.

The family of skunks was living under the front porch when I moved in. They never bothered me. The smell they use as a defense sometimes wafted into the open windows in summer when other animals threatened them. My daughter had to be bathed in tomato juice once as a child. On the whole we co-existed. I rather think the skunk is a beautiful animal. The family could be seen in late afternoons parading back to the garden for their dinner. I didn't bother them and they didn't bother me. We basically kept out of each other's way. My brother warned me that even though I was not afraid of them they were afraid of me. He encouraged me to take steps to keep them out of the yard. Installing the pool and making smaller garden areas has discouraged some of the animal activity. It also caused other problems. For instance, the animals just love burrowing beneath the shed that contains the pool equipment and the smaller one that contains the gardening supplies and equipment. 

Possums, on the other hand are a bit more scary. I don't like that many toothed grin they give you after dark when you interrupt their foraging. I have done all I can to encourage those grinning jokers to move on. I don't like that smile. My grandma used to encourage me to trap them. She liked the meat and when we lived in the south my Mom always made sure that there was at least one dinner in which the grinning little monster was served. I can't say that I enjoyed eating that meal. Chewy, my little dog has been instrumental in running them off. He has killed several of their young. Moth balls, moth flakes, and sulfur has discouraged them from taking up residence beneath the pool house. I have also dug down deep around the structure and buried fencing too small for them to crawl through to the safety of the warm underside. I noticed yesterday that something else may have taken up residence.

Gophers are rarely seen, but they leave their trails in the lawn. I have stepped down into what seemed like solid ground several times and found that I was standing in a tunnel. They are also afraid of the dog and the cats in the area. The activity of the Landscapers discourage their activity. They are not very good fighters and seem to have moved on.

Last year, there was a family of mallard ducks. The  grandchildren loved them. The mother was very upset when I moved aside some of the lumber piled up by my brother when he finished building my outdoor living area pictured here. She and her chicks had wintered beneath the lumber behind the pool house. She ran away screaming in a voice that I did not know ducks possessed. I resisted the temptation of cuddling her babies. I have heard stories about leaving that human smell on wild things. I placed them beneath the deck and she found them after skulking about the yard for an entire day. I thought that making my yard more  civilized and less like the country as my granddaughter calls it, that the animals would go away. I was wrong. I think they rather like the shelter we built them. 

The rabbits were the hardest to determine what to do. They also winter in the lawn. There is nothing worse than accidentally killing the mother of several small babies with the first spring mowing. I have taken to walking through the yard and examining each small burrow to make certain it is not whats left of a winter home. The tiny babies do not last once the mommy is dead. Explaining those cute little babies to the kids after they are gone is no fun. There are few rescue organizations for baby rabbits, especially that tiny. We were all teary eyed when we lost them.

I had never thought too much about the groundhog. He is a new tenant. He is very bold. My grandson and I watch him from the 

bedroom sliding doors. His lack of fear prompted me to read up on him  and I do not like what I learned. It seems that the little bugger can be very dangerous to humans and small pets. I am not as young and brave as I once was. The groundhog has taken over my backyard. He now has three babies. The family frolics around as if they own the yard. I am in the process of calling in the professionals to get rid of he and his brood. For the first time since moving into my home I am a little uneasy in my own yard. The 3 and 5 year old must be watched constantly and warned not to approach or play with any animals they see in the yard. It is really beginning to feel like the country for the first time in many years.

These granules have been suggested to get rid of groundhogs and other pests. They contain coyote urine and repels the animals. I have ordered it and will let you know if it works.  Shake Away.

Spring is Bursting Out All Over!

periwinkle

periwinkle

crocus

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Kid Friendly Vegetable Dish

In 1998, My sister took ill and her two children came to live with me. They referred to broccoli as trees and broccoli rabe as poison. They ate corn and white potatoes. That is it. They developed a love for kale before they left. They liked it so much that they helped clean it so it could be chopped and cooked without  any fussing. They were exceptions to the rule. Few children like kale, broccoli, cabbage, spinach, broccoli rabe or mustard greens.

Ingredients:
1/4 of a small cabbage, green a white leaves
1 medium sized zucchini
1 cup of chopped broccoli
3 medium white potatoes
1 cup chopped asparagus
1 tablespoon olive oil in pan
1 tablespoon oil mixed with tablespoon of chicken broth & 2 tbs. of water to make dripping sauce

12 inch nonstick pan

Cabbage should be chopped in slivers. Think spaghetti. Chop it again in the other direction. if the leaves are the outside green ones they will be tougher and take longer to cook. Green kids prefer the white inner leaves. The inside white leaves are sweeter, contain more water and cook faster. Precut all veggies and place in a colander. Do not mix the vegetables together. This is not stir fry. Kids do not like it when veggies are all mashed together like a stew. An over sizxed sauce pan is best. 1 tablespoo of olive oil is usually enough.

Chicken broth

kids like the potatoes best. Chop them like french fries. The thinner, the better. Chop the potatoes last to avoid browning in the air. Strain the potatoes. Kids don't like soggy potatoes. Preheat the pan with olive oil. Mix a tablespoon of oil with 2 tablespoons of water and a tablespoon of chicken broth. Fry the potatoes on medium heat as if making hash browns. Hey, make hash browns. When potatoes are tender move to one side of the pan. Add the rest of the vegetables.  keep them separated as much as possible.

Don't worry about over cooking the potatoes. kids don't mind the flavor of the hash browns mingling a little with the other veggies. Slowly drip the sauce over the green vegetables. The vegetables are already cooking. Cover the pan.  Allow the potatoes to get the crunchy brown texture. Turn the whole pile of potatoes. Flip the cabbage. The cabbage may need flipping more than once if using the outer green leaves. 

Filippo Berio Extra Virginolive oil

Leave the vegetables to steam under tightly closed lid. Close the lid and allow the heat in the pan to cook the vegetables to your liking. Kids like crunchy. They also like a little more of the Chicken broth flavor than adults. Taste before serving to them. Sometimes only one taste not to their liking will turn them off from eating it. Always use a pan that has a lid that closes tightly.  This keeps the heat in so the vegetables cook evenly. Do not add too much water? Vegetables are mostly water. As long as the fire/heat is not too high they will cook in their own juices and the olive oil.

The Ground is Thawing!

Another day awakened by a lively 3 year old proclaiming a bright and shiny day.
"Its a bright and shiny day, Grandma. Get up!"
How does one resist that? Not at all on a day like today. There was enough of a chill on the breeze that we still wore our jackets. The day was channeling spring. We spent time in the yard chasing the dog, kicking the soccer ball, tuning up the radio flyer 3 wheeler, playing with Batman figurines and walking.

He found that he really can peddle the radio flyer. He discovered that crashing can sometimes be fun.

The daffodils are up with the yellow blossom ready to pop through the green covers. The crocus and periwinkle are blooming.

The crunchy soils in my flower and vegetable beds are getting soft. Spring is coming! Yea!

High Fructose Corn Syrup: How Do you Feed Carbohydrate Junkies?

My 3 year old grandson has refused meat products since he was old enough to eat from a spoon. He came into the world with a very discerning sense of smell. Nothing passes his lips before it has gone through his little smell test.

"No, that's yucky. That's too floppy. That's too spinach."

Today, I bought carrot juice. The expensive kind. I have become very worried about the fact that MD's are saying that high fructose corn syrup has been linked to obesity, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and skin cancer. It seems that this sweetner is cheaper than cane sugar. It always boils down to money. He is very fair and loves outside and the sun.  So how do you feed a child who refuses all fruit, vegetables and meat of all kinds? What do you feed a 3 year old who drinks milk, juices, cool aid, apple juice, iced tea, and pediasure? He only eats baby pasta and odoodles of noodles.  Have you ever seen those tiny flecks of parsley in the soup mix packet? Well he picks out those almost microscopic specks of green. "No spinach." He is so picky that he only consumes the foods that the body makes into sugar. This means that the child lives on sugar.

High Fructose Corn Poison

I have often told my daughter that Mickey D's should stop lying about there being meat in Chicken Nuggets, because that is the only thing that resembles meat that he will eat. They pass his smell test. How is that possible? Do additives mask the smell of meat or is the meat absent.

He is extremely asthmatic and takes a melt in your mouth singulair daily. Singulair is said to cause hallucinations and violent rages. I'd say that the sweet little boy can go there. He also takes albuterol and pulmicort when in serious distress, which is almost all the time. He is lying in his little bed right now with the nebulizer running. Sometimes I think that the noise of it soothes the little beastie inside and puts him to sleep. Okay, that was wishful thinking. Too much Gogurt today. He may even be allergic. Sugar. Sugar. And milk makes phlegm? Even orange juice is said to make phlegm. He doesn't like orange juice anyway.
"Its too orange. Check and Check."
He couldn't do the walk yesterday. He is too heavy to carry. He is not fat. He is solid. His saving grace is that he likes Nick Jr. and will dance all night to the many songs, if you let him. Tonight he ate dinosaur shaped pieces of what  was supposed to be chicken. This was a turning point. Now it seems like there will be a fitful night of sleep ahead.  Okay, I will stop now. I am scaring myself.

I have been doing a lot of reading about the corn syrup, sugar, the drugs and asthma.