Two squirrels have adopted the back patio as a mating ground. I have not yet established whether they are of different sex yet.

Regardless, they shall have to go if they continue digging up the soil and planting their own seed in our pots - how unneighborly.

They wont receive the death penalty, but will be mildly gased by moth balls to warn them off. It's worked in the past. I welcome other advice.

Have you inspected their nuts yet? Sorry--I couldn't resist.

Thank God I wasn't the only one thinking that!!

Guess I'm digging my own hole with this one, but everyone knows I'm more into pits than nuts. Though I like to nip the occasional bud now and then.

Well, my crocus popped up over the weekend. Too bad I didn't. Waiting on the tulips. We might hit 50 degrees by Monday in Chicago! Hit the beach!

Well, not sure I can come up with any innuendos regarding what I wanted to comment about Spring but maybe you imaginative posters will think of something..

I'm so glad Spring is in the air but the only thing I hate is that along with it comes TICKS, which means I have to spend a 1/2 hr. picking them off of our dogs after we have our daily walk.

Now let's see what you can make of TICKS...OH MY, it does rhyme with something, doesn't it?

[ March 23, 2005, 07:21 AM: Message edited by: Di ]

I don't have a problem with Squirrels, or with ticks, (unless some family members can be classified as ticks) but I do have a skunk hibernating under my deck. I am NOT looking forward to that one waking up

Considering the skunks diet, it may be keeping the mouse and rat population under control, unless there is easily accessible garbage.

Or there could be chickens or fruit trees around.

No insult to skunks intended, but I'd try mothballs on them. Just because they can raise a stink, doesn't mean they tolerate other stinks.

Di, I hate it even more when the ticks are on ME! This happens during the spring when I insist on hiking in the dunes of Miller Beach. You'd think I would have learned by now, but I become so giddy with the thought of spring and hiking the dunes, I tend to throw caution to the wind!

Miller, I hear ya! We can get into a local philly park (fairmount park) across the street from our house, and it's the only isolated place where we can let our dogs run free, so we too throw caution to the wind knowing we will be attacked by ticks! I am often envious that our dogs have frontline to combat the problem, but we humans have nothing! (i think there is a new human vaccine on the market now?) I don't even want to tell you where I found the last embedded tick on me eek!

Had a tick a couple of years ago. Partner extracted it in time. The test for lime disease was negative. Got it in a graveyard (research).

I've set out the mothballs after seeing that a bushy-tailed rat had resumed its decimation of the buds on the Japanese Maple. Had no idea they ate the things until a couple of years ago.

Looking forward to getting a new bike when finances permit. The old bike has seen its best.

Ahh! Fairmont Park. Philadelphia's true gem. In Spring it's more precious than its museums. My only tick experience in the past 30 years was from plunking around in an old graveyard back home on Maryland's Eastern Shore, so I can't fault fair Fairmont. My partner extracted it though it left a two year old scar - no lime disease fortunately. I guess dogs are resistant then Di?

No, dogs are not resistant to lyme disease, our neighbor's dog got it and died about a year later. The Frontline is just a repellant, which emits something under their skin, which the ticks do not like and therefore will not bite (at least not like they normally would bite without it). Even with the precaution of Frontline, we tend to miss a tick or two on our dogs, which we later find embedded.

Sorry about your battle scar (wondering what your partner used to extract that tick? ) - but so glad your test came back negative! In the early years, I would run to my doctor after I got bit to get medicine but lately I haven't been so diligent!

Almost forgot - yes, Fairmount Park is most beautiful during the Spring, although it offers something special during all the Seasons. We use it for a number of reasons besides just walking the dogs, and that is for biking, hiking and fishing.

[ March 28, 2005, 11:34 AM: Message edited by: Di ]

Woohoo, my crocuses finally bloomed. Just when I was convinced that the glacial ice sheet was gonna start creeping over Illinois again. eek!

Anyone got any garden plans?? I'm putting out radishes and early lettuce. Got some heirloom tomato seedlings too.

We don't have a lot of free, good soil in our yard for a garden (between the pool and the dogs) but I have been looking at buying or making some sort of self-contained garden (with wood or cement blocks) for hosting a tomato garden. There is nothing like a red, ripe tomato sandwich with mayo! YUMMY!

I was smarter, Di. I bought my father-in-law a huge collection of heirloom tomatoes. So, he'll do all of the work and I'll get the bounty.

Our yard is mostly perennial, except for a few annual pots and annual herbs. I like the coming back every year without having to do all of the work.

I was in Provincetown over the weekend and almost felt reborn upon that the crocuses had started coming up out of the soil. In the Boston area, we still have pockets of snow on the ground and I fear this will be a late Spring for us.

It's actually supposed to hit 60 here tomorrow.

I think the world might end!

Well the mothballs worked for the maple, but there were still some fresh holes dug in the herb pot.

We've now put netting (normally used to keep birds away) over both. But since I saw a field mouse scamper across the patio, that may not work either. One of the neighbors' cats usually scare them off. The seeds should be ok if we don't get more than one frost.

A friend got a really interesting and tasty tomato last year that looked like a cross between the Big Zebra and the Copia pictured here. We just called it the "stripey tomato". It was firmer, less acid and much prettier than the regular tomatoes, and made an excellent salad.

As for the regualar red tomato, nothing beats slicing it and serving with fresh basil, sprinkled lightly with salt and pepper and maybe just a smattering of olive oil and wine vinegar.

We have 10' x 10' "plot" now in a local communal garden which supplied a surprising amount of herbs and veggies last year. Looking forward to more experimentation this year.

Ha! Illini in Milwaukee...we may hit 70 degrees today! As for garden plans, you may also want to try pansies. Despite their name, they are quite hardy in the cold.

[ March 29, 2005, 01:01 AM: Message edited by: millerbeach ]

...Just when I was convinced that the glacial ice sheet was gonna start creeping over Illinois again....

I feel the same way come the end of March. And here I thought "March Madness" was all about the crappy weather!

78 degrees today... too bad I was stuck inside!

I've had all the windows open in my house for TWO days in a row! This is great! It reminds me how much I really hate winter!

What is this "winter" of which you speak? Please elaborate.

May the gods of global warming curse your sun-drenched souls with another hurricane. :mad:

The next one could be the "big one", as Fred Sanford would say. wink

MB & Illini, I watch WGN News at Nine every night and Tom Skillings was all OVER your recent spate of good weather last night. Reminds me of those freak days in early Spring when nature just seems to go wild!

When I was in the Navy, we were once more than three months at sea in the Med, shuttling between the coasts of Israel and Egypt to signal the Israelis and Egyptians - sounds almost Biblical, doesn't it? - to cool their respective jets. When they finally did so, in mid-March of '74, we headed to Venice for a well-earned liberty call. I'll never forget the sensation that swept over the ship as we turned into the Grand Canal and were hit by a land breeze that just REEKED of Spring - grasses, flowers, earth, you name it, we smelled it. The whole crew, which was assembled on the flight deck, went wild and started frisking about, jumping up and down, "grab-assing" each other and just generally acting like fools. Spring Fever is REAL!

My only complaint? That this sometimes dumb-ass country of ours doesn't go onto Daylight Savings Time in early March like the rest of the civilized world does, but waits another full month until the first Sunday in April. You can thank some corn-bred Congressmen for that one, seeking to protect farmers, who have the most flexible work schedules of anyone. Think of that the next few days when you're obliged to rise - if not shine - the next time Old Sol peers in your windows at the ungodly hour of 5 a.m!

Actually Gmginsfo, it used to be worse. Remember when it was the last Sunday in April that we switched the clocks? I'm still waiting for the state of Indiana to get on one time zone.

Tell me about it, MB. But that's just one more thing that makes MI such a great state: up in and above Saugatuck, the sun doesn't set until after 9 in high Summer - and those glorious twilights seem to go on forever!

BTW, liked your other post about "the Clock." Where did you go to HS? Hornet, here.

High School? Me? My goodness, let me recall...oh yes! Highland High! Highland, Indiana. A rather bland town, typical Midwest, mainly controled by the Dutch. Still nice to this day. Great place to raise a family, but I wouldn't really want to live there. It's about as boring as watching paint dry.

A big cheer out there to all those folks who still do gardening. Especially if you've been doing organic gardening since before it was called that. Now if you could only get a subsidy that reflected the benefit you make to the enviroment, the world might be a better place. But who's counting? Bigfarma has all the numbers and they bend them to their will. Buy organic if you can afford it. Even if you don't trust the label, you've made a statement loud enough to be heard in all the "free market".

Spring? What FREAKIN SPRING?

Starting Saturday night, and continuing all day yesterday, we got 15 cm of wet, slushy, heavy as SHIT snow. enough so that it moved my satellite just enough that the signal strength is only 42.

And the snowplow from hell dumped over 4 feet of that SHIT at the bottom of the driveway. You'd think that a snowblower would make quick work of it wouldn't you? Not this shit. The snow blower basically just rolled over and played dead.

I have shoved enough to one side to get the truck out of the driveway,. but if this isn't gone by Wednesday, I'm gonna seriously think about living in BC.

SPRING MY ASS!!!

I know! It got down to 58 here last night. I had to pull the comforter up tight to stay warm. wink

Enjoy your spring while it lasts, KWG. Less than 2 months to hurricane season.

Is it football season already? It's actually another five months until the Canes hang #7 in a row on F$U. :cool:

I know Key West weather is wonderful, but I want to sing the praises of actual seasons. Driving back from Richmond yesterday it was so wonderful to see the first signs of spring here in the upper south--trees with the first hint of green, Bradford pears and flowering cherry trees in full bloom, hyacinths blooming. Soon everything will be green, including the streets, sidewalks and cars, full of pollen from the trees.

You cannot fully appreciate the shades of spring green without the browns of winter.

I love Spring in KC. It's so beautiful going through the older neighborhoods with the tall trees leafing out, and the beautiful dogwoods, crabapples, pears, hyacinth, daffodils & tulips, etc. etc. in bloom.

I also love working out in the yard and garden this time of year. It's not too hot, and the flying bugs and insects aren't out in full force yet. I'm sore from digging up hundreds of daylillies yesterday, which I'll transplant to a different location in the yard next weekend. I also broke down and used Round-Up to kill the weeds in the vegetable garden area, instead of digging them up. Soon it will be time to get the roto-tiller out and start planting.

The beginning of spring, actually spells the beginning of summer in Florida. I'm enjoying these last few days of low humidity before hell settles in for the next 6 months :mad:

Sounds Dee-liteful, (he said sarcastically).

The state of my back yard?

Tulips, daffodils and hyacinths were just starting to poke through the soil (along the east fence, the garden along the west fence still had ice on it). And the lawn? Let's look at it this way. 1 back yard, 2 large dogs, 4 months of winter snow. Can you say minefield?

The grass is brown, the trees haven't started to bud yet, but I do know that the 2 holly's I planted 2 years ago didn't make it, and the Forsythia that finally reached about 10 feet, nicely pruned, is dead as a doornail, as is 1 of my pyramidal yews.

In my front yard, which faces south, all of the tulips etc were up about 4 inches, and are now flattened. 2 of my ground cedars are dead, and my Hydrangea is split down the middle thanks to a paperboy, who even when told to walk around, told me to "f**k off" and walked right through the middle. He can't understand why I cancelled my subscription. I told his parents (they live 2 doors down) that there darling little boy is buying me a new hydrangea. (I know where he inherited the constant blank look from).

And most of the front lawn is not only dead, but missing, thanks to grubs and the skunks that dug them up in the fall.

I think I'm gonna be busy come the middle of may. Up here, you don't do anything other than fertilize your lawn until then.

I like gardening at the cottage much more. There's no lawn, as everything is surrounded by large pines, so gardening consists of plantine 4 planters with mums, and watering them.

MB, don't be knockin' Highland, Trojan-breath, because that's where my Dad lives now! For an old "Harbor Boy" like him, it's heaven - especially after 40 years in Gary!

OK, back to Spring. Drove with friends up to Cleveland Nat. Forest yesterday and happened upon all kinds of good stuff. Rabbits everywhere - you know what THEY do! - vernal pools, snow-capped peaks in distance, lizards chasing each other all over the place, the works! Really beautiful part of CA within an hour of SD - Da-om, I LOVE it here! :cool:

Me? Knock Highland? Never. It was a wonderful town to grow up in...just wouldn't want to live there now. I'm glad your dad is there. It's a safe little town that is quaint, but boring to a young, single man. Spring update....went to the beach today, actually went in Lake Michigan up to my knees (after a few vodka and 7-up's) It was cold, but the beach was hot. Everything is now budding...it happens like magic. The backyard crocus have faded already, but the front yard white crocus are in full bloom. I also planted pansies over the weekend. Yes, spring is here! My face and body now have color after the beach visit today, and I plan to go again today...I'll have that August glow in April! Temps are expected to hit the lower 70's today, and it WILL NOT BE cooler near the lake! (You have to be from the Chicagoland area to fully appreciate that statement)!