Post by: sandbox on March 09, 2007, 11:38:05 AM
photos taken with a Olympus 550 zoom.
Post by: Xairbusdriver on March 09, 2007, 12:29:41 PM
Either way, I can hardly wait for more images and Spring itself. Our Forsythia are in full bloom, the neighbors Redbuds are, also. And the wild Crab Apples in the fields around town are starting to show their splendor, as well. Plenty of bird activity is keeping Sweety, our cat, entertained and on alert!
Post by: RNKIII on March 09, 2007, 03:33:00 PM
Kelly was right in all his admonitions that 'Spring is right around the corner' 
50 degrees according to the non-Atomic deck thermometer.... and have the deck door open for a while to 'air out' the house and give the cats a chance to exercise their noses
for the advanced warning, Kelly...Bob K. rnkiii
Post by: kimmer on March 09, 2007, 07:36:11 PM
Post by: jcarter on March 09, 2007, 08:23:45 PM
How about a bit o Global warming when we need it! Our wood stove has been working overtime.
But we are in for a change finallllllllyyyyy,
Spring is coming!
Thanks for the encouraging pictures. I have my garden flowers for both desktops and all screensavers at the moment. We need it!
Jane
Post by: sandbox on March 12, 2007, 03:57:20 PM
Post by: iGuy on March 12, 2007, 09:24:14 PM
I was talking cameras awhile back here at TS trying to decide what my next camera should be. I still haven't bought one. A month or two ago I read the below article.
Olympus 550 UZ
Looks like a sweet camera and a much needed model to fill a void in the Olympus line up.
Ryan
Post by: jcarter on March 13, 2007, 07:13:46 AM
Now that the weather is above freezing, we put the coyote crystals all over our yards and shrubs, and that works quite well. Deer also are the vector for Lyme disease which is nasty, so deer are not welcome around this end of New England. They have no natural enemies, except for a few coyotes and cars on the highway, but they prefer the rabbits and squirrels and tend not to bother the deer, and there is no highway near us.
So, sadly they eat our flowering shrubs and evergreens if we dont spot them first.
Anybody have any other suggestions of how to get rid of deer in your yards?
We are surrounded with woods and swampy areas, so there is no way to get them out of there, just want them away from our yards.
I sure would hate to own an apple orchard, they dont bother with our 2 old sickly apple trees, as they dont bear much fruit any more.
Jane
Post by: krissel on March 13, 2007, 09:20:29 PM
Post by: Gregg on March 14, 2007, 07:27:06 AM
Post by: jcarter on March 14, 2007, 07:37:31 AM
Thank you for the suggestion, but to fence in all our property would cost a fortune.
I guess that I will just continuously apply the Coyote Crystals and put moth balls under the remaining azaleas.
I did contact a young friend who is a bow hunter, and he is going to come over very early in the mornings and see what he can do to 'help' us out.
Our coyote pack seems to be thriving, and soon will have their pups, so maybe they can be a bit more helpful too. For some reason, the coyote population is dramatically increasing around here. If only the deer would stay in the thick woods and away from the yards. They just multiply to the point that they start starving and spread out away from the woods. This happens on the islands, and they are all diminished in size.
I do have a lot of azaleas, and we just love them, its really sad to see them get ruined.
Jane
Post by: snuffysbluff on March 14, 2007, 09:43:14 AM
Now where's my rubber gloves and respirator?
Wonder if the grass needs mowing yet. I can't wait...really.
Is that tree still alive or just a late bloomer?
Isn't it interesting that ol' Phil didn't see his shadow this year?
....and I never really believed the hype. I may have to rethink my opinion of Bush's administration.
Post by: Gregg on March 15, 2007, 07:23:32 AM
QUOTE(snuffysbluff @ Mar 14 2007, 09:43 AM) [snapback]121875[/snapback]
5 versions of doggie doo is emerging from the snow in the back yard. Time for spring cleaning before 2 months of it thaws.
Ah, Spring! When thoughts turn to.... cleaning up the yard?
With all the downtown condos, there are few places nearby to walk the dog. One lazy owner chose a narrow strip of weeds lined with parking meters. People have to stand there to feed the meters, and I cut across that strip also. So, after stepping in the dog's deposits once, I made some "burma shave" signs for the owner (using the back of my TruGreen lawn signs, and the plastic stakes). Well, somebody tried moving one pile using the signs, and I didn't see any new deposits before the snow fell.
Post by: jcarter on March 15, 2007, 07:42:17 AM
It is there that they all toss their little blue poo-bags into the bushes, and they hang there with their contents enclosed for a long long time. Until eventually the bags get torn or drop to the ground.
Wouldn't we rather have the poo go into the ground and decompose rather than hang in the bushes for months on end, in their bright blue bags?
Nobody picks up the Coyote poo, and that decomposes right away, squirrel and rabbit fur and all.
OK, thats todays lesson in scatology.
Jane
Post by: Paddy on March 15, 2007, 10:13:56 AM
Deer are indeed a problem - and Kris is right, there is no repellent that works all the time or reliably. There are very few truly "deer-proof" plants too - deer will taste almost anything and will eat things you'd never think they'd touch. They usually leave rhodies alone - but azaleas may be a little more tender and more to their liking. They never bothered my azaleas in Corvallis though. I don't think they will eat holly (too prickly!) and they don't eat juniper. Too bad they don't eat poison ivy either - 'cuz there is no shortage of that in Massachusetts!! A friend of mine in Corvallis put out a booklet about 12 years ago on deer-proof plants, after years of testing supposedly deer-proof plants in her own deer-infested garden. Quite a number of purportedly deer-proof plants failed the test.
Jane, before you wish for an increase in the coyote population, consider your cat-owning neighbors who won't be too happy when Fluffy is carried off for dinner. An acquaintance of mine here in North Andover had all 5 of his cats picked off one by one over a period of a couple of months - he actually saw the last one get pounced on and carried off into the woods.
Post by: jcarter on March 15, 2007, 11:26:58 AM
I had warned and warned them, and told them that an elderly deaf cat is almost defenseless. They kept saying that he was an 'outdoor' cat and was way too big to be taken. Yes, he was about 18 pounds, but that did not help.
I am still very sad about my azaleas, but after reading, "Deer Proofing your yard and garden" by Rhonda Massingham Hart (Storey book co, Pownal, Vermont), I realize that this is a USA wide problem and wont ever get any better. Its the best book Ive read on the subject.
So I will just keep going with the Rhodies, and not plant any more Azaleas. We have many many Rhodies, and I did love the way the Azaleas bloom at different times with many different colors. I will just keep applying the Coyote Crystals, and use some of the other repellents that the book recommends.
Jane
Post by: krissel on March 16, 2007, 09:42:48 PM
The only truly safe plant is one they can't reach.
Post by: kimmer on March 16, 2007, 10:31:16 PM
