Hi everyone! Here's our new thread to go with the new year.

Can't wait to see all your gorgeous photos, and to hear about your garden guests.

Happy New Year!

Well I certainly wouldn't say these are gorgeous! I have to keep a brick on top of our trash bins because they're cheap and flimsy and the wind blows them over constantly, and if not the entire bin then the lids constantly blow open (new city bids for trash, new company that didn't save anything with new incredibly cheap bins). During the winter one brick always seems to stick from being frozen even when there's no snow. Now I think I know why. I think I need to start wearing gloves when I dump garbage in the bins. They're not the clearest pics, they're from a video, but you get the idea including the wet spot where it didn't sink into the brick yet.

insane squirrel

Aren't you sorry you witnessed that? 😅

Definitely yes! The first negative about the cams I put up!

Murky said: Well I certainly wouldn't say these are gorgeous! I have to keep a brick on top of our trash bins because they're cheap and flimsy and the wind blows them over constantly, and if not the entire bin then the lids constantly blow open (new city bids for trash, new company that didn't save anything with new incredibly cheap bins). During the winter one brick always seems to stick from being frozen even when there's no snow. Now I think I know why. I think I need to start wearing gloves when I dump garbage in the bins. They're not the clearest pics, they're from a video, but you get the idea including the wet spot where it didn't sink into the brick yet.

...and the caption should read, "I'll show her!"

But I feed them! While they can't get to the majority of feeders directly, there's plenty that drops to the ground they forage for seeds from.

I wonder if I soak that brick with peppermint oil if he'll stop. I'll have to try that and see if it stops sticking to the top of the bin. I sometimes just use it as a handle to lift the lid, it's frozen on so good. I often wished I could permanently cement it to the lid so I wouldn't have to keep removing it on trash day.

Okay, so this is a little off the wall, but maybe put a handful of seeds on the brick? I mean, animals don't usually pee where they eat, do they? Unless they're foxes or wolves...

That's a good idea too, I'll try it. But I'll replace the brick with one stashed in the garage first to get rid of the scent. Although I really don't smell anything off the brick (yes, I tried expecting it to smell gross).

But I did have a raccoon walking through the yard last night! Just scrounging around left over shells.

You may be lucky just getting away with having the brick peed on. Squirrels around my place actually chewed away a large hole in the garbage bin lid. Now, every time it rains I must watch that the bin doesn't fill up with water. I'll trade squirrels for skunks and racoons anytime. Squirrels are just so destructive! Definitely not my favorite animal.

Similar thing happened to the trash can at my parents house in which they stored the seed for the bird feeders. We used a bungee cord to hold the lid on tightly. The %$@# squirrels chewed through the bungee cords! Now those are some strong teeth (and motivated squirrels)!

My Dad has a metal tool box for his truck and they've chewed on that.

I store my bird seed in the basement in tubs like Rubbermaid and a seal tight one for the peanuts. Then I have smaller cereal-sized containers that I have upstairs to easily fill the feeders. I haven't had any issues with critters inside the house, it's just a royal pain to lug the bags of it downstairs. But it's better than trying to store it in the garage.

I have seen a squirrel chewing on the 1" diameter plastic hinge at the back of the garbage bins, but so far, none have actually chewed through the lids and didn't do much damage to the hinge, just a few tooth scrapes. And the lids are quite flimsy, they really wouldn't have any problem chewing through most any part of these trash bins.

I put the red pepper powder on the bricks but then felt bad when a squirrel ran through the pepper. So I wiped that off and just let quite a bit of the peppermint oil soak into the top of the 2 bricks.

Murky Peppermint oil is a great way to keep a lot of critters and spiders at bay. Last season they dug up lily and dahlia tubers and replaced them all with hazelnuts. That spring all the hazelnut seedling were flooding thru my collection of lilies and dahlias…so this fall sprayed peppermint oil on all the plants overwintering and not one squirrel has been thru any of them. They also dig under the house for winter. Not since peppermint. In the attic area too also ammonia soaked rags will keep skunks and raccoons at bay.

We do have cats they can't be left out at night because we have lots of raccoons and coyotes around. But we do have 5 dogs that help keep the squirrels at bay around the gardens. Last summer I caught my collie swallowing a squirrel whole. I made her cough it up… Gross…better she left it outside than later in the house.. and the squirrel ran off…😵‍💫 The moral of the story- peppermint is made at horticulture strength in gallons we use it a lot since the collie episode.

Squirrels haven't attacked my garbage cans yet but everything else seems to be fair game. One year they actually took a tie down strap from a boat trailer and used it in building their nest!!!

Happy new year!
I forgot a new year meant a new forum! I was thinking about Nancy's question about the raccoons and where they went. I guess up where you live, with the extreme cold, they are hibernating.
They don't hibernate down here. It's warm enough, so they're active all year long.
I'm off to pick up a new download tomorrow, so maybe I'll have something cool To post.
📸📸📸📸📸

Oh Boy a new down load by Web…
Lookin foreword ….

bumplbea said:

Last summer I caught my collie swallowing a squirrel whole. I made her cough it up… Gross…better she left it outside than later in the house.. and the squirrel ran off…😵‍💫 The moral of the story- peppermint is made at horticulture strength in gallons we use it a lot since the collie episode.

Bea, your collie was swallowing a live squirrel?

Picked up another nice bobcat and a coyote today from the Weymouth woods download from December 26 through January 4. I also picked up many many squirrels again and raccoon and deer.







Picked up the shots of cedar waxwings after my memory card pick up at the Boyd house.







Also saw Yellow bellied sapsucker and 1 red tailed hawk flyover.



It was nice using my regular camera for a change and had pretty good results for early January.