Intruders

I guess spring really is here. The rose bushes along our front porch are starting to have flowers on them. I have seen pictures posted by the former owners of our place and the bushes are beautiful when in full bloom.

I’ve told you several times about the deer that come into our pasture to graze at night, and how much we enjoy seeing them. However, we are well aware that growing gardens and planting trees is an invitation to deer to sample the buffet. A line has to be drawn somewhere if we are going to get anything out of all of the work and expense we are putting into getting a garden and some trees established.

About 11 o’clock Saturday night Terry looked outside and told me we had intruders, and sure enough, there were at least 20 deer out there. Until now, they’ve always stayed at the far back end of the pasture, which is fine with me. But this time around they were much closer, in the area where Travis and I tilled the garden, and across from where we planted the fruit trees and blueberry bushes on Thursday. I turned on the back porch light and opened the door and yelled at them, and they took off like a thundering herd of deer.

The question is, how long will they stay gone? When we were at Tractor Supply the other day we bought some deer repellent, an organic granular mixture that I went out and spread around the area where the trees were planted yesterday. The reviews say it’s pretty good stuff and I’m hoping it does the job. We also bought some seven foot high mesh deer fencing, but we haven’t had a chance to put it up yet and we still need to get some more stakes for it, because we bought all that the store had.

Longtime blog reader Don Nelson also sent me an Amazon link to a solar animal repeller with motion sensor that he says he has had very good luck with at his place up in northern Michigan. I may give them a try if our other efforts are not successful.

Part of the work we had done here to help with our drainage problems included regrading the back and yards and installing French drains. Then sod was laid in the areas closest to the house, and hay and grass seed spread over the rest of the area where the grass and topsoil had been taken off. These areas require watering until the seeds germinate and the sod starts to grow into the ground. The sod seems to be doing that pretty well, but the straw and seed area still needs to be watered.

We have a couple of the cheap wave type sprinklers, but they cover such a small area that it took me hours of watering, then moving hoses and repositioning the sprinklers, to make sure everything got the water it needed. That’s a lot of work, and we all know that I’m very opposed to any kind of manual labor if I can avoid it. So, on a recommendation from our son, I got a couple of Orbit tripod style sprinklers. These things are amazing! They cover a much larger area in much less time. I’m so impressed that I may order another couple of them, one for the fruit trees and one for the garden area.

Congratulations Janie Thornton, winner of our drawing for an autographed copy of Callie And Natalie’s Dutch Family History by Darlene Miller. When nine year old Callie and her five year old sister Natalie go to Pella, Iowa with their grandmother they wear period dresses as they learn about their fourth, fifth, and sixth great-grandparents, who arrived in Pella in 1847. Other true Dutch stories are about more great-grandparents who immigrated in the early 1900s. Enjoy their experiences as they see, hear, and taste “all things Dutch” as they travel through Pella.

We had 43 entries this time around. Stay tuned, a new contest starts soon! Note: Due to the high shipping cost of printed books and Amazon restrictions on e-books and audiobooks to foreign countries, only entries with US addresses and e-mail addresses are allowed.

And finally, here’s a chuckle to start your day from the collection of funny signs we see in our travels and that our readers share with us.

Thought For The Day – I am responsible for what I say. I am not responsible for what you understand.