The Green Room

[Prairie Dog]

We get our share of rabbits too but also deer, voles, skunks, and the odd porcupine that invade the gardens. They'll strip the bark off a tree in no time flat. We live captured spike here a couple of years ago during the late hours of the evening using only a neighbor’s water barrel and a bamboo pole. I can only imagine what the neighbors were thinking at the time.


Skunks, on the other hand, require a more thoughtful approach.

 

[Prairie Dog]

Fantastic! I’m thrilled to have read and seen your incredible garden!

My wife is actually the one with the green thumb but I’m usually by her side helping out wherever and whenever I can. She possesses an incredible wealth of information, is self taught, determined to grow anything from seed in her greenhouse and is an avid member of the local gardening club. Most of our home property is devoted to perennials/annuals and what little lawn there is, natural clover has taken over the bulk of it. A couple of rocks in the image, including the large one, were actually made by her. She’s also a cat lover but doesn’t take kindly to them messing about in the garden.

 

[Mulezen]

Cats are in the top ten invasive species damage list (North America). I did have one when young (Lilac Tipped Himalayan) who never left the house. To the antagonists towards windmills who like to cite bird deaths I suggest wind operators offset this problem by trapping 10 feral cats and eliminating for each blade turning. DJT’s antipathy while he sits in a golden tower responsible for many bird death’s a year, is particularly notable

 

[PedalUma]

Cats are an apex predator. They kill 2.4 billion birds per year in the US alone. I love the idea of introducing the coyote solution to modify human behavior! Coyotes are cat lovers too.

I had a cat once as a kid that went feral and never went back in the house again. It just liked the barns. It would sometimes drag the giant carcasses of ground hogs and eat them. It lost an eye in a fight. Was it hunting ground hogs? After it was done eating a ground hog and it stank to high heaven our family dog would get its chance. Its breath was so bad my dad didn't know what to do. The dog wouldn't open it mouth for mouth wash. So, naturally my dad did the logical thing and put tooth paste on the dog's balls. Problem solved.

 

[Handlebars]

"Apex predictor" for where the bird will be after the cat makes it's move or predictor of where the dog will lick next.

 

[Art Deco]

Interesting to read these takes on gardens and cats.

Like many around here, we started a couple raised beds during the pandemic. I'm fairly sure the resource investment - lumber, soil, fertilizer, water- has far outweighed the return so far. The bunnies sure like it though.

There's been a dramatic rise in the rabbit (eastern cottontail, non-native) population the past 2 years followed by a sharp increase in coyote (also non-native) sightings around here.

The coyotes do a much better job of convincing folks to keep their cats indoors than the city council so there's that, I guess.

Yes, the first bed of carrots we planted was a total loss to the rabbits. Used the deer and rabbit spray after that...no more problems.

 

[Mulezen]

Garlic clips work well too

 

[tomjasz]

I managed gardens with lions and tigers. Some of the cat scat shagged a number of critters away.

 

[PedalUma]

I heard on the radio today that the presence of coyotes correlates with the presence of quail. This is one reason the official bird of San Francisco is extinct in San Francisco. I looked it up and found this quote from a Texas study, '..all potential food sources for coyotes are known predators of quail.' There is also a theory about middle level predators, that they move to the top when the top is removed. Cats become apex only when coyotes are removed and coyotes become apex when wolfs are removed. Yes, coyotes will eat quail and their eggs, but by keeping down the numbers of other predators quail thrive in the presence of coyotes.

 

[Art Deco]

I heard on the radio today that the presence of coyotes correlates with the presence of quail. This is one reason the official bird of San Francisco is extinct in San Francisco. I looked it up and found this quote from a Texas study, '..all potential food sources for coyotes are known predators of quail.' There is also a theory about middle level predators, that they move to the top when the top is removed. Cats become apex only when coyotes are removed and coyotes become apex when wolfs are removed. Yes, coyotes will eat quail and their eggs, but by keeping down the numbers of other predators quail thrive in the presence of coyotes.

Indeed. This phenomenon shows up in the seas now. We have replaced several species of apex predators with just humans, as shown in a variance from the normal distribution of the total expected weight by size of all the species in the oceans at the expense of mid level sized lifeforms. Feedback loops, I guess.

 

[PedalUma]

Update: This is what is happening in Canada. Click to animate. By the way I adore Canada. https://climate-modelling.canada.ca...s_Amon_CanESM2_rcp85_1995_2090_ano_amno.shtml. It does not show the social and economic impacts of climate change. Those implications are left to you. I loved the section of "the EVERY" where they viewed the 1,000 pound average weight elephant seals at Drakes Bay.

 

[DaveMatthews]

Update: This is what is happening in Canada. Click to animate. By the way I adore Canada. https://climate-modelling.canada.ca...s_Amon_CanESM2_rcp85_1995_2090_ano_amno.shtml. It does not show the social and economic impacts of climate change. Those implications are left to you. I loved the section of "the EVERY" where they viewed the 1,000 pound average weight elephant seals at Drakes Bay.
View attachment 108279

Dayum... I have felt and seen the changes in my 61 years in Vancouver. This is dire....

 

[Handlebars]

Update: This is what is happening in Canada. Click to animate. By the way I adore Canada. https://climate-modelling.canada.ca...s_Amon_CanESM2_rcp85_1995_2090_ano_amno.shtml. It does not show the social and economic impacts of climate change. Those implications are left to you. I loved the section of "the EVERY" where they viewed the 1,000 pound average weight elephant seals at Drakes Bay.
View attachment 108279

Why do you suppose they used the period 1986 to 2005 to model it on?

 

[PedalUma]

Today it is December and 72 degrees F, or 22.1 C just east of Vancouver. It is December and raining at the Olympic Village in Whistler. It is your weather service ask them.

 

[DaveMatthews]

Today it is December and 72 degrees F, or 22.1 C just east of Vancouver. It is December and raining at the Olympic Village in Whistler. It is your weather service ask them.
View attachment 108377

Yeah, that's a ridiculous temp for Penticton B.C. at this time of year.

 

[tomjasz]

Yeah, that's a ridiculous temp for Penticton B.C. at this time of year.

50F in Minnesota. Crazy!

 

[Handlebars]

Today it is December and 72 degrees F, or 22.1 C just east of Vancouver. It is December and raining at the Olympic Village in Whistler. It is your weather service ask them.
View attachment 108377

Weather is not climate.

 

[PedalUma]

Ah, Okay one day of people going around it t-shirts and shorts with floppy hats and flipflops in December is no big deal. All by itself it is almost funny on a day when they wanted to go skating on a pond. It is a point, and a point is not a trend. But has anything else been weird in Penticton in the last 6-months? Like evil witchcraft science fiction biblical level weird. Because those other points together amount to data.

 

[Mulezen]

The trend has not been our friend here the last 40 years at my place in Central VA though in the short turn tomorrow will be in the 60s and the bike might see some action

 

[DaveMatthews]

Ah, Okay one day of people going around it t-shirts and shorts with floppy hats and flipflops in December is no big deal. All by itself it is almost funny on a day when they wanted to go skating on a pond. It is a point, and a point is not a trend. But has anything else been weird in Penticton in the last 6-months? Like evil witchcraft science fiction biblical level weird. Because those other points together amount to data.

Well... we did organize a province wide fart day yesterday.
We timed it for 1pm. Everybody let one go and I guess it all amalgamated in Penticton.
Not doing that again!