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I'm trying to play the game. We had an ice storm overnight, and a solid inch of ice is coating everything. Tree limbs are falling copiously, and so far none of them have severed a power line or put us off line. That's not true for a lot of people around us. But every once in a while, I hear a solid crunch as a bigger limb falls in our yard. One such is as big around as my thigh (weeping willows do that a LOT). Meanwhile, smaller branches pelt our house and grounds, sometimes with noise of impending doom -- the next one will get you, sucker! And all the while, other branches shed chunks of ice up to perhaps a half-pound or so. Some land directly on our roof, having fallen perhaps 50 feet from the top of one of the maples. Others land on the ground and don't so much shatter as explode, sending shards of ice against our windows and the sides of our house. I have a doctor's appointment. I canceled it. I told the clerk that I wasn't going outside to be killed, and the ice falling from the sky was only part of it; I'd have to walk on uneven ice and splintered ice for about 25 feet to even get to the garage, and if I fell and was lucky enough not to break anything I was going to have to crawl the rest of the way and hope I could get up at the end. But, hey, we don't have earthquakes or hurricanes or dust storms here. And it's been three years since my house was hit by a tornado (EF-0, but still). This is the land of Wisconsin. I like the beer and the cheese. The weather? Not so much. At least not today.
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OMG! A wise choice to stay home! I hope everything melts soon -
I think this is one of the best comments I've read that you wrote. Fantastically descriptive & compelling!Originally posted by bwt1213 View Post
I completely understand too as we've gotten those kinds of storms here in Maryland too. Not this year (thank goodness), yet we have & had lost the power over a week. I haven't purchased the $10k generator yet as well, it happens here every 10 years or so & its just not worth the price, course I bet I won't say that next time it comes around. I know the price as I have gone to the trouble of hiring several people to give me estimates based on my location. I would've done it too had it been about half that price. Then I wouldn't worry every winter if this is the time I'm gonna freeze for a week w/o a backup plan. Yet in Wisconsin I suspect you are all ready as it probably happens to you every year. If its not an ice storm then its snow & not like a 2", more like a 24" right? I remember it was 2012 when we last had that kind of storm. It was called Snowmaggedon as we received 2 significant snowfalls within a week apart & more than 30" were out there for me to shovel (or hire someone who'd charge me over $200 CASH to do for me). I remember it took me 5 hours just to shovel a walking path from my door down to the mailbox. I won't tell you about the year we had 3" thick sleet on top of 12" of snow & it took me 15 hours to chip away the driveway with a dirt shovel & then collect all those pieces @ the bottom. I always have a bag of salt in my home ever since as I NEVER want to experience THAT again. As you know, salt makes an ice driveway so much easier to navigate (even before the sun comes out after the storm).
So I lift my mug of hot tea to you sir as you stay WARM, DRY, HYDRATED, NOURISHED, ENTERTAINED & ELECTRICALLY CONNECTED til you emerge to the warmth of spring (& all the insects with cabin fever ready to burst out & come bite you while you stroll over to your garage to take a ride in your car)!
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Yesterday it was cold, so almost no ice bombs fell from the trees onto our house. Today it's warming up, and they've already started. I used to be able to chip away the ice. I can't do that any more. My daughter is coming to visit today, and I will not ask her to do it, either. The front of the house is safe, but the back (and the path to the garage) is not; I will not have my daughter hit in the head by a chunk of ice falling 50 feet from a maple tree while she's trying to make it possible for me to get to the garage. Sunday it's supposed to be 50 degrees (10 for you Celsius lovers) and maybe the sun will take care of it for me from above and on the ground both.Comment
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Enter nature chewing, pooping and causing sleepless nights.
Would that cold and ice were my only worries. Friday I woke up to 4 chipmunks staring at me from my bay window INSIDE the house
Had this issue before, but never four at once. Managed to trap one, the other three bolted for the basement. I trapped one in the finished part of my basement, never saw the other two again so I'm assuming they let themselves out the same way they got in. The trapped one chewed right through the bottom of the door
Haven't seen it since but he left lots of other little presents for me in my basement.
Chipmunks are one of the most destructive little beasts I've ever encountered. They tunnel and tunnel until there's nowhere else to keep tunneling. They've undermined the earth under my driveway so bad it's sinking, are inside and under my foundation, porch, patio, etc. I think my whole house may eventually cave in!
Had Terminix come out today after they promised me on the phone they could seal my house and at least prevent them from getting inside the house in the future. The agent told me the problem is so bad that Terminix (the largest rodent and pest prevention company in the USA) will not touch the job. He told me my only recourse would be to contact private contractors, (including a roofer because he thinks one point of entry may be gaps in my roof) to see if they can do anything to keep them out of the house and somehow get the outside population under control. Fun.......
Sure nobody cares but thanks for letting me rant
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RussDNails no predators? We experience the classic predator prey population "waves". Anytime there are "too many" chipmunks the bobcats, foxes, coyotes, hawks and owls show up and the chipmunk population disappears for two to three years until a new group move into the territory. I do live in the woods and there is plenty of food around for all kinds of wildlife. In 46 years I have only had one chipmunk in the house (about twenty years ago). My wife left the garage door open one night and I saw a chipmunk "flatten" himself and slip under the door from the garage into my studio. The chipmunk saw me and promptly left.
One year, a bobcat would show up, almost every day in the summer before dawn and sit on a rock outcrop waiting for the chipmunks to become active. The bobcat would then have breakfast. It gets to be like Wild Kingdom around our house. I was always waiting for Marlin Perkins to show up with Jim Fowler and a camera crew.
No cats in your neighborhood?Comment
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Hey Danny—thanks for the reply. Aside from the occasional hawk I really don’t see any natural predators in our area. The primary hole where I sit in my kitchen and watch the critters dive into their burrow seems to be on my neighbor’s property next to their fence. Neighborhood cats will hang out near the hole but apparently it’s not enough to control the population. My location is pretty urban but we have a lot of oak trees. The Terminix guy told me that if you see an oak tree you can guarantee that there’s chipmunks around.
My neighbors and I set up what we call the “chipmunk swimming pools of death” to try to keep their numbers down but even this is not enough. You set up a 5 gallon bucket half filled with water and then put a layer of black oil sunflower seed on the surface. Lay a thin plank of wood with a big dollop of peanut butter at the top of the plank and then scatter seeds along the length of the board. They follow the seed trail, go after the peanut butter and jump in after the seed in the bucket and drown. We compare notes and some seasons we take out anywhere from 75-100 each! It may sound cruel but when you see the damage they are causing to our properties you’d understand. There’s so many holes in my yard I have to be really careful not to turn my ankles when I cut the lawn!
It’s insane but really true that Mother Nature wins every time!Comment
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I like the swimming pool idea. There must be loads of other food sources around besides acorns (bird feeders?). It is amazing as to what I have seen chipmunks eat (chickadees, mice, fruit blossoms, each other) RussDNails, I am guessing you live in a warmer climate if chipmunks are now active there. Even though we have had a very warm winter here in Connecticut, I don't expect to see chipmunks active here for a couple of weeks.
Good luck with the fight.Comment
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Danny--appreciate the reply. Actually, I live in a suburb of Cleveland and we typically have pretty harsh winters. Nothing like Boston or Buffalo but a good storm can dump 14-18 inches in my city..........we get a lot of lake effect snow from Lake Erie, I' m just a few miles down the road from the lake. This year has been bizarre, we've only had one storm that required a little shoveling and I haven't started my snowblower once since I prepped it for winter in October. We've had multiple days over 60 degrees F, one of 72F which is unheard of in Jan/Feb in this area. Global warming must really be a thing--I've spent my whole life here and when I was a kid we had snow on the ground continuously from about Thanksgiving 'til April. Winter is gradually becoming a thing of the past! We're getting spoiled because when a decent storm does hit, it can be a little shocking.
I think that's why we're already seeing chipmunk activity--from what I've read, they don't fully hibernate and get active to forage for food from time to time even in winter. If it's warmer, the periods of activity increase.....
Yeah, the bucket thing is amazingly effective. I can't believe how many we can catch that way but it's a pain to maintain. I keep one in front and back and peanut butter/seed doesn't last very long--birds, squirrels, mice etc. will all also eat peanut butter and of course the seed so each bucket requires almost daily maintenance.
BTW, you can call me Russ, you don't have to address me by my full name of RussDNails
My full name is Russell but friends and family call me Russ (and as a neat Wordtwist aside "russel" is a word you can use if you see it, I guess it's some type of fabric. I didn't know it was a word until I started memorizing words to become more proficient at Wordtwist!)
Cheers,
RussComment
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Used to trap the chipmunks, then take them across the river. Couldn't bring myself to kill such cute things. But, we have woodlands behind us, so they're only a minor nuisance. In your shoes, I'd go on a killing spree--cuteness be damned.
What do you do with the carcasses? We have enough predators that dead chipmunks would make lunch.
We had a semi-feral/friendly cat that would catch them. There would be nothing left. She ate the entire thing, skull and all. Watched her do it.
When fish die in our ponds, I usually net them and lacrosse them into the tree line. Once, the fish landed on the neighbor's roof. Oops! It was gone in less than an hour. Probably a crow or hawk--both of which would love a chipmunk burger with extra fries.Comment
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Hey Naboka,
Yeah, it's tough, the first few times I had to fish bodies out of the the buckets was heartbreaking. I love animals, grew up with everything from turtles, to hamsters, gerbils, guinea pigs, rabbits, etc. In fact I majored in biology in college simply based on my love of animals.
They're just so destructive, I was getting frustrated enough with the outside property/yard/lawn damage and once they started coming in the house and into my living space I felt no choice but to take action to reduce the population. Now that they chewed up part of the carpeting and through the door to my finished area in the basement I'm really pissed. Not to mention the droppings and the fact that they carry salmonella, fleas, ticks lice, etc. Cute as they might be they are vermin/wild animals and there's no way I can be at peace in my house knowing they have access.
I have a big bush in a large flower bed in my back yard. I just scoop 'em out with a shovel now and toss them behind the bush and let nature take it's course. It's likely that cats, raccoons, etc. find and eat the remains. I don't really go back and look, out of sight out of mind.
I had a guy out from a private firm today and he says he can help. Looked the part, kinda like Jack Hanna so hopefully he knows what he's doing. He put some pretty elaborate looking traps both inside and out and identified a few of what he feels are primary entry points for the critters. He's supposed to come back and seal these up soon. Fairly reasonably priced too.
I don't understand Terminix--when I talked to them on the phone, they asked the square footage of my house. My house is small and they told me it was no problem, $1300 for a house of my size. Once the Terminix inspector came out, he did a complete 180 and told me the problem was too intricate and they couldn't help me--they're supposed to be the largest pest control company in the US. The Terminix guy was really rude too. He was walking away and I asked him what to do, he said "I'm out, call some private contractors" hopped in his truck and left. Definitely won't get any of my business if I should ever need anything else like insect control.
Thanks for the reply!
Best,
RussComment
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Yeah, replies are usually a good thing. The silencenesses on the forum can make one wonder why bother to post.
Helping out local businesses almost always seems preferable to paying for the money chain required to support the tiers of personnel in big business. Lot of salaries to be paid. Salaries on top of salaries on top of all the other expenses. All to make a few rich on the labor of others.
Having Jack Hanna show up for the job would be fun.
Flower beds? A true joy. Have put so much love and attention into them.
But, last summer, got lazy and hardly bothered to water. Probably lost a hundred heuchera. So many colorful varieties out there these days. So beautiful in large displays. Like painting the world with leaves. {Why is the plural of leaf not leafs?}
We'll see what spring brings. Already seeing hundreds of daffodil and jonqil. Probably lots of crocus too, but I'm too lazy to go out and check. (Still have shovels/tools leaning against trees/rocks, weathering the winter, because of that laziness--while the shed is so close and tool-cozy.)
I have a large mound of dug-up iris rhizomes that I was going to replant/give away that's just sitting on the deck outside the door. Iris tend to be my favorite flower. Briefly. Then....
As for throwing the chipmunks behind a bush....
Been reading about natural organic reduction--or human composting. Have you heard aboout it? Lovely subject. Fair makes the imagination romp through flowered fields.
Anyways. From dust to dust, and "Honey, where's the Pledge?"
Your chipmunk story makes me want to set up with a pellet rifle in the back. Just feel that I should do my part in some vicarious way. The problem with that is retrieving the pellets so predators aren't eating the lead.
Good luck with Mother Nature and Her incessant jokes.Comment
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You get that rifle I'll have you come by
Bring a cat too.
And the dude really did look like Jack Hanna, khaki outfit and all........Comment
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Cats are good for that stuff.
We had a snowshoe mix years ago. Huge cat. Incredible hunter. Super tough. Even walked away from a fight with a fox who thought he'd found a tasty dinner.
He was 20lbs, not fat. His head came up to my greater trochanter (over 36") when he stood on his hind legs. Nature trembled when he stepped out the back door. Little creatures disappeared like fog in sunlight.
When winter came and the field mice tried to take up residence in our house, he found them all and quickly.
Miss him dearly. Best cat we've ever had. Beautiful. Looked a lot like this pulled-up picture.
Do you have cats?
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No cats, unfortunately I’m pretty allergic to both cats and dogs…….a friend at wok suggested maybe one of those oddball hairless ones might be good but I think I’d need a clowder (yet another good Wordtwist word) to even have a chance at getting on top of the chipmunks. Not sure, maybe just having a single cat around might act as a deterrent—the chipmunks don’t seem all that bright considering they’ll dive into a bucketful of their buddies’ corpses for a shot at some birdseed but all animals seem to have that sixth sense about predators…..
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