hi all, i am a newbie to this site and have to agree with sticks and stones, I was going to "tip toe out" as well. But have enjoyed reading and learning all about other folks gardens. Yes ,i thought this thread was going no where that i was intersted in reading... but seems like we are back on the right road now. for that, i am grateful.
i do not care for snakes in my yard,...but my fear is that i have this possum that has had babies in my neighbors yard ... lordy lordy they are really ugly.. mama walks on my 7 foot fence at night and my dogs come unglued.... and i too ,come unglued. seems the only way i can get her off is to take the hose and give her a squirt. her claws are huge and i fear she will scratch my dogs eyes or whatever. so i will take the snakes over the possum :-)
happy gardening to all
night visitor
Hi Nystx, welcome aboard.
I think we can all get past someone's bad day and go back to enjoying our conversations. I still want some ice cream!
Hmmm. Lemon Ice Box Pie Ice Cream?
Possums aren't really bad ~ just UGLY! And of course, we discriminate against ugly. My namesake dog, Podster is my possum pointer. A couple of years ago, he woofed and when I went to look ~ this was what had his attention.
I took soooo many pictures I figure this guy is still seeing spots!
Then a couple weeks later, he barks again and this is what we found.
DH said he found a good restaurant and brought a date. : ))
Knolan ~ make mine plain vanilla... or drizzled with honey.
I know folks are gonna say I'm crazy for saying this this but I'm gonna say it anyway. I LOVE possums!!!!! I think they're the cutest things. A few years back, my mother hand fed 9 babies with an eye dropper and then bottles until they were old enough to be rehabilitated. If it weren't for my cats and dog, I would have kept one as a pet. Raised from a baby, they do make a good pet. OK, no rotten tomatoes.
Triple scoop of plain and a honey drizzle.....coming up.
hmmm, kristi. They must have not yet destroyed your most precious rose, daylily and/or anything you freshly planted. If they only ate/pulled out the weeds with the same enthusiasm and vigor, then I would love you the way you do, lol.
Hahahaha. Actually, I get them here all the time. Sometimes I'll put a little bowl of dried food out for them. They seem to stay away from my plants....don't know why, I'm just lucky, I guess. My mother actually had one as a child for a pet. I used to think that was crazy but now that I've gotten used to them, I wouldn't mind it a bit.
I remember going into the garage where our washer and dryer were and there was a possum lying behind the washer supposedly "dead" except it had its mouth open so that you could see those pointed teeth. We tried to get it to go away prodding it w/broom handles and such. Couldn't. At that time Deer Park was a kinda small town in the '60s and anytime you had a rodent problem (I guess they are rodents {?} ) you just called the police dept. and they handled all such things. The desk person answered the call and told me he had just the guy to come out - a real possum getter-outter. I stupidly believed him. Well, the officer came out and stood looking at the possum and scratching his head and muttering he didn't know what to do mumble, mumble, mumble. I told him what the station had said and he looked so surprised. Turned out he was the newest addition to the police force in Deer Park and was getting initiated by going on these calls. He left, we went inside and the next day the possum had ambled on. We all got a laugh out of that!
Ann
Possums aren't rodents, they're marsupials! The only marsupial in North America if I remember correctly. The mom has a pouch for the babies, like kangaroos.
A few summers ago, we set up a large bug zapper out by the security light. It turned out to be a midnight diner for the wild night life on the ranch. Surprisingly, it didn't take long for them to discover the roasted bugs. We had possums, raccoons, skunks, barn owls, and armadillos. It was interesting to see a feeding hierarchy develop. When they appeared, owls were at the top of the heap. Raccoons were next, followed by skunks. Possums, poor babies, had to move away from the feast whenever the others came. The armadillos seemed totally oblivious of everyone but the food. They were like little bulldozers.
That Lemon Box Pie Ice Cream is good. Not as good as the Key Lime Pie Ice Cream, but good. I like to try the different ice cream flavors. So we usually end up with 2 containers because my DH prefers vanilla. Although, I must admit vanilla with fresh strawberries or peaches is wonderful.
While I had always thought they were rodents too, the Dallas News did a story last year and they are very beneficial and totally harmless. Just do as I do for everything...Google.
They do look threatning.
Especially when they bare those pointed teeth and hiss at you.
They're actually very clean animals too. It's a myth that they carry a multitude of diseases. I always feel so sorry for the ones that have been hit by cars. That's how my mom ended up with the babes - my brother accidentally ran over one so he got out to check and sure enough, it was a momma with 9 little babies in her pouch. They were so cute when they were little...would crawl all over us, hang on our fingers by their tails. It gave me a new respect for them.
Bettydee, that lemon box ice cream sure sounds good!
Yes ~ I am willing to sample a new flavor when it is on sale. Otherwise it is plain vanilla for me and and chocolate for DH. But Kristi I had better stick with just one huge scoop (not three)
I will also be stoned by all but I like the armadillos. They come thru and root looking for grubs and bugs. I know that if I were to treat to kill these bugs the 'dillos would go elsewhere for dinner but I don't. Besides, they areate the soil. I enjoy hearing and seeing them. We had a baby armadillo once and it adopted any pair of leather boots it could find. Didn't matter who was wearing them... think he thought it was Ma!
That's cute. I like armadillos and skunks, too.
My poor friend's dog got skunked last month and you wouldn't believe what they went through. They did the tomato juice thing and bathed her a million times. It's taken forever for the smell to get out of their home (dogs shake when wet, right?), well the smell got on the walls. They had to throw away every towel they owned. I could even smell it on her purse when she visited. Poor thing. Why it was decided to bathe her indoors is beyond me.
Okay, Pod, one HUGE scoop instead of three small.
I'm glad I'm not the only one who likes skunks. If only they didn't smell so much.
I suspect not everyone likes skunks... I just got done reading this one. http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/724384/
We had a female lab that got sprayed. I washed her outdoors with vinegar and baking soda a few times. After quite a few days, she still smelled. She must have been oblivious to it as she was happy as a bug!. She would come around the other two wagging her tail and they would walk BIG circles around her. LOL
Oh, that poor woman! I do believe that if that had happened to me, I would not like skunks at all. Poor chickens. Poor schnoz!
hi all ,
very funny stoires about the critters :-). we dont have possums where i am from, but we do have shunks and porcupines. seems our family dog and the neighbors dog were always tangeling with some critter or other, yep got skunked a few times but it only took one time of getting those squills in his face, through his tongue etc.,to learn to quit fighting with them. the vet bill was outragous! :-)