Let's see your favorite garden harmonies

That's what I'd like to know !

Well, the pig actually nipped. The owner says he's prone to do that. Hurt though.

Oh, I defiitely met a lot of characters at my job. Some very serious bad guys, others just really funny total screwups.

JD, I would have so freaked. I hate possum. They look like big rats, and there is nothing I hate more than rats. We had a load of cow manure dropped off one time, and there was a rat in it. It got in the shed, and we had the darndest time getting rid of it. I have finally gotten so I can tolerate field mice, we even had two in the house this year, but rats and opossum. NO! If I had seen that opossum under the china cabinet I would probaly have left home. Not you of course, I see you even gave it a toy. And was that sticky note telling it to leave, LOL? Beautiful china cabinet, BTW.

I'm with you, Polly - I hate any type of rodent. Bats are nothing more than rats that fly - UGH! Mice, voles, shrews, squirrels, etc. Rodents. Back when I had my cats, the kids also wanted mice or hamsters or something awful like that. I told them they were cat food. They never asked again.

LOL at both your stories... !

Where I grew up was across the storm drain from one huge section of MGM studios which had been there for eons. It was about a 1/2 mile stretch of old movie sets and backdrops.

In the early 70's they leveled the whole thing to build homes and condo's. When they did the demo, it sent every rodent known to man across the storm drain bridges into the housing tract where we lived:
Rats, mice, skunks, squirrels, possums, raccoons and all sorts of other critters which had inhabited the place all that time.

The rats and skunks were the worst. Everyone had rats in the rafters of their homes and skunks spraying everything in sight. Our dog cornered a skunk under the house and it sprayed...we had to pull up the carpet in the whole house and douse the place with baking sodaIt took months to get the odor out.

The local cats had a FIELD DAY with the rats and mice. People who didn't even like cats were getting them to erradicate the mice and rats...and it worked.

And bats, yes, one of my other hates.

I'm with you Mamasita on the cat food.

Oh, yuck and yuck, JD.

I bet that pig nipped Polly when she said she loved bacon.

Great stories, everyone!

We had a tiny vole once but after he bit into a Jalapeno pepper and ran in circles for 20 minutes we never saw him/her again.

Too bad you didn't have the video camera out for that one.

Yes, I missed it but I did have my camera in hand when I spotted the tiny bunnies. Here you can just see the ears. There were four of them and the mother nexted in between the artemesia and the heuchera.

Here's another one. They were so cute. If the mother would have left my lilies alone I might have loved them.

Cute little lily eaters!

I love possums, but I like rats too, so the resemblance doesn't bother me.

I like to walk around the garden at night and follow the sound of crunching -- possum families eating snails.

They never crunch for me when I use my scissors on them.

Those are slugs, aren't they? Snails should crunch no matter what you do to them.

You're right, I'm wrong. It must be close to cocktail time.

It's 5 o'clock somewhere!

Mmm...just took my first sip! Nectarine of the Gods.

I can't go all out on this with you because I have to work tonight, but I did have a quick slug of mudslide. I keep a bottle of it in the refrigerator and gulp some down whenever I have an excuse. Today my back's hurting from yesterday's planting binge.

Someday the east coast gals and the west coast gals are going to have to come together for a slug/glug fest. Guys too, if available.

I'm in, Louise. But we should do it here. I'd want to buy plants and the California agricultural rules are so strict that I wouldn't be able to bring them back home.

I've often noticed many plants that cannot be shipped to CA, AZ, and Hawaii. I've never known why except that the growing conditions are so good that they can become invasive?

Gee, I'll come west, twist my pinkie. I bet I could coax Pirl to join me. Pirl could coax Polly. March would probably be a good month. Your nurseries are probably overflowing and NJ/NY nurseries are still in the planning stages.

The last time I was in California I literally rolled in the dirt. It was beautiful dirt and vegetation. I think it was the Sonoma wine region. Long time ago. Need to go back.
Sorry pirl, it was beautiful soil.

Oh, please don't let me stop you from rolling in the earth! There are days I'm tempted to do it after Jack rototills the vegetable garden. Then the neighbors might take more kindly to the scarecrow as opposed to seeing me roll around in the vegetable soil.

Zuzu, could we have some mud slinging with our Mudslides? That could be real fun!

The fares to California are so low right now!

Really Pirl?? I mean as far as the low fares. I could squeeze in a long weekend in CA next month.
We could rent a standard transmission car and try to get up the SF hills.

I'll check the latest emails but I recall $109. and $139. to CA, different cities.

NO thanks on standard transmission cars up the SF hills. I'd rather walk them in Marilyn Monroe stilts!!!

Hmmm, that's enticing!

I'll drive...hahhhahhahha

I'm in Sonoma County, Louise. People who visit me from other areas fall in love with my dirt.

I think the agricultural laws have more to do with keeping undesirable pests out of the state. We don't have Japanese beetles, for instance. Plants can be shipped here, but they have to be sent without soil or they have to have been inspected. Some nurseries don't want to go through the hassle of regular inspections, so they just refuse to send plants to California.

Count on lots and lots of mudslinging, Pirl, with or without mudslides.

Ahh, ok, that certainly makes sense. The bugs are more devastating than the plants!

uh oh...I sense an estrogen fest in the brewings...

That's why you have to be part of it, JD. You can neutralize the estrogen, although I'm far enough up in years not to have any left, I think.

JD, notice I included the male of the species. We all need a little testosterone.

yes, I did notice ! LOL

My eggs have been scrambled for a very long time so no fear with me, JD.

It's more a concern of if you're "sittin' on all your eggs" than if they're scrambled, poached, or otherwise !

What a positive thought to dream about tonight.

I'm not sure I am even following this conversation, but I would like to believe that my eggs are poached. And as I was writing this the $^(^%$$# cat was trying to climb up my back. Somebody told me orange cats are good luck. I think orange cats are like all other cats..a pia...but I love them anyway! Here's little pia taking over the entire househld

We're dying to see it. Where did it go?

Ok, gals, come visit, we can take out the third row seat of my Yukon and really pack the plants in! Then I'll settle either for a Fuzzy Navel, Cosmo or a good red.

I knew I hit send too soon, but I figured no one would notice. I should have known better. And now I can't find the pic I wanted , this is the best I can do. And I think it's a repeat, sory.

Love that Yukon!

I don't remember seeing that one before, Louise. Cute!

Can you imagine how we'd walk if we slept like the orange cat?