| Meet the
Local Residents They called this place home long before we did! |
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 This guy and his cousins drive us crazy some summers. He and Mohammed Ali have a lot in common. According to our research, one nest can harbor 300 to 400 yellow jackets. At that rate, we've wiped out 900 or 1200 of them in one summer. Unfortunately, we keep finding more nests. The hum is incessant. |
 Some of our neighbors just don't understand, "You aren't invited to eat." However, some are so persistent that they become quite entertaining. This Stellar's jay was determined to get the sunflower seeds, despite all the obstacles we put up. |
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 This guy is the Pileated Woodpecker. He's big: 18 inches from crest to tail. Occasionally we see him winging through the forest, but usually we just hear him pounding holes in trees. Then we call him "The Big Hammer." In the fall he hangs around near the patio. Literally. The dogwoods by the house are covered with berry clusters. They must be tasty. The pileated, flickers, and robins devour them. The pileated lands on the end of a fragile limb. He hangs on for dear life while it swings through a 4 foot arc. When it finally stabilizes, he's upside down, hanging on by his toes. Then he delicately eats one dogwood berry at a time, until the cluster is just a core. Then he moves to another limb. Occasionally he screeches at the flickers, who are unfazed. Quite entertaining! From the patio, we have front-row seats for the performance. |
 Plants on our patio met a local critter.  This lovely celery became this:  The culprit? Read on |
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 Deer They seem so sweet. So innocent. Don't be fooled. They are voracious eating machines. All summer long, our ingenious deer-netting-and-conduit fence around the patio enables us to grow lush and flowery plants. One year, that ended September 26. At breakfast, we noticed half the fuchsia leaves were gone, and all the ivy. Ah, they're finding their way up the sidewalk. Blockade. Subsequent mornings, the rest of the fuschia leaves were gone, all but one hosta, columbine, petunias, basil, celery . . . They don't seem to like pelargonium, wisteria, bay or angels trumpet leaves. They like everything else. A little detective work revealed what was happening. They were getting down on their knees or bellies and going under the netting! Back to the drawing board with fence design. Deer season opens in late September. Hmm.... That may be an option!
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