Wednesday, July 4, 2007

Oh dear, those deer!

I have been called a Bambie lover many times in my life, which I am. I am not a hunter and it makes me sick to see a beautiful dead deer slung across the hood of some car which is all too common a sight in these parts in November. BUT........when they start eating my vegetable and flower gardens I feel like getting the ole' Winchester 30-06 out and sitting on the front porch waiting for their big doe eyes to appear so that I can give them some lead poisoning!

They have discovered my gardens are good eating and are making their rounds every night nipping off more buds and leaves until some of my plants look like sticks. First it was my pepper plants that were all blossomed out, then my huge hostas, next my flox and last night they got my turtle back!

At this rate there isn't going to be much left. I must go down and check my fledgling orchard and see if there are any little apples left on the trees. The trees are still small so they can reach right up and snap the babies right off .



Now it's not for lack of food around here. The area is lush with clover and grass for them to feast on so why do they have to eat my gardens?! Do we have a connoisseur in the bunch that wants variety? Grrrrrrrrrr I'll give them a variety tonight that hopefully will deter them. One neighbor suggested Moth Balls and another one said there is something at the store that you spray on that has cayenne pepper in it. I've declared w*ar!


Thankfully some of the plants they must not like as they pick and chose what they want. The mallow is in full bloom now and they haven't touched that.

Or the margarite.



The coral bells have just gone crazy this year and are crowding out the sedum which I will have to move.





I got a nice surprise yesterday as Myrna over at Cherish the Word gave me the Rockin' Girl Blogger award! Yee haw! I've never gotten an award before so this is a real honor! Thanks Myrna, I enjoy your site too and read every post that you write! :o) Congratulations on your awards too! Now I'm supposed to pick 5 more to give the award to and I don't know if I can do that. I LOVE all of the people that I have met in this blogging world so I don't know if I can single out just 5! I'll have to give this some thought.


It's the 4th of July and we decided to play it slow today. We did some work around the barn this morning when Funsize was here doing chores and I gave Buddy and Skipper a bath. The other two need one too but two at a time is enough for me. Skipper is a bit hesitant about the whole thing but did pretty well today. When I think about what he must have gone through to be so skittish now it makes me cringe. Poor little guy is scared of his shadow but has come a long way in the four years that we have had him.



Now Buddy LOVES his bath. He even likes to drink out of the hose while I am spraying him down. He is such a big ham. Notice once again he has his snack while having his bath......



I love all the horse shampoo supplies that are available now. They are good enough I could use on my own hair if I wanted to. The conditioner is great and really makes their manes and tails shine and be tangle free.






Nick and Kipper decided to have a snooze in the nice warm sand in the arena. Of course they had to roll in it and get all dusty......


My FIL lives next door so we called him to see if he would like to go to lunch with us at the Muddy Rudder and he did. He lives alone so we try to get him out as often as possible, Husband takes him for rides in the evenings for an ice cream very often each week and he still goes to the office every day at 90 years old! He was asking me about what kind of camera that I use so I was showing him and snapped a picture of him. My MIL has been gone for about 15 years after a 10 year battle with cancer and we were reminiscing about her over lunch. We are so fortunate to have my parents living with us, FIL next door and Son and family on the other side about a 5 minute walk away through the woods.





The wind is starting to blow and it's clouding in so I hope it doesn't rain out the fireworks tonight. We need the rain but wait till after the show!




18 comments:

Myrna said...

How nice to have all those generations living so close to one another! I think it is great, especially for the children to have so many people who love them to be a part of their lives.

Hoping for a good Buddy report tomorrow!

Musings of a Housewife said...

That's such a great picture of Grampa! Love that. I wanted to blog about him marching in the parade, but I never got around to it. Down with deer! Grrrrr. And thinking positive thoughts about Buddy's report tomorrow.

Anonymous said...

My husband said he would be right there to help eliminate the deer problem. I don't know that you would want to see the gleam in his eyes!!!

Praying for you and Buddy tomorrow.

Your FIL does not look 90!!!

BarnGoddess said...

MM, you are SO VERY lucky to have all the ones you love living close to you, your equines and your humans :)

I hope Buddy and you get a good report from the vet today.

BarnGoddess said...

ps. my freezer is OUT of venison already, Id like to fix that asap....want me to come for a visit?

Tammy said...

I loved reading this post...
Congratulations on winning the Rockin Girl award! :D
The pictures of Buddy and Skipper- I so wish my girls and I could just pop over and feed them a carrot or two. We love horses but don't get to see them nearly enough.

I love that your FIL and parents live right there with you- so wonderful!

Blessings!

Dawn said...

Yes, the little baby skunks are very cute, and I love watching the mommy and older child waddling across the grass, but the odor is overwhelming - headache time for me.

The deer was having a little sip of rain water on a picnic table that was built up on that concrete pad. I wouldn't want him in my yard, though, eating the garden (if I had a garden!)

I wish it wasn't so dark when I took it and the bird - a stellar jay. The blue was so beautiful.

We got a bit of rain just before the fireworks, but it felt good actually. Our grandkids are so fortunate, too - they live 3 doors down from us, my parents live .7 mile away, and my MIL (88) lives about 4 miles away in assisted living. Dad C died last fall at 93. We have been blessed. Besides my sister and my husband's sister both live within 4 miles and we all go to the same church. ALL of us. My son and his wife just live up here 11 miles away in the town where daughter and I both work at the university - too much information, I know.

Susie said...

How lucky you are to have so much of your family nearby. You FIL looks great for 90!
I hear you on the deer. We're fighting a losing battle with the squirrels on all our fruit. Grrr!
xo

the moose buyer said...

Still say the garden is beautiful but I don't know what you can do about the deer outside of the obvious. Looks like Buddy is doing better. It does make it easier when the horses enjoy the water. My daughter's arabian unfortunately wasn't one but we did warn the new owners when Stacy was 17 and decided she didn't want to show any more.

Suzy said...

I'm so naive about horses that I thought the only time that they lay down on their side like that is when they're dying!!!!!!

What do I know, I have birds!!!!!

I do hope buddy gets well and your Fil looks like a sweet soul.Enjoy the time you have with him.

Carole Burant said...

Considering I live in the countryside and we have a lot of wild animals around, it's surprising that nothing ever goes after my flowers or veggie garden...now that I've said that, just watch!! LOL I can just imagine how frustrated you are with the deer, I would be too, especially knowing all the work that goes into growing flowers and veggies!

Congratulations on winning the Rockin' Girl Blogger award...I've always known you ROCK! hehe Very well deserved I must say. I LOVE coming to visit you and always feel like I'm visiting a friend I've known for years:-)

Your FIL certainly does look great for his age and great that he's still so active at 90...wonderful too that you have your parents with you and kids nearby!!

I'm doing a few quick visits in between thunderstorms...it's the second day in a row for them and I keep having to shut down the computer because the storms keep coming around! It's cutting heavily into my blog visits! Aaarrggghhh! lol Love ya! xoxo

palmtreefanatic said...

so nice to have all this family close by!
That is one tired horse;)
hoping for a good report...

Rising Rainbow said...

I just have to laugh! I have a friend who is the same way about the deer in her yard! She's convinced they have it out for her, they are always eating her favorite plants and her apple trees haven't had much fruit since the deer discovered them.

Anonymous said...

Wonderful

Joan said...

Hmmmm...who knew Bambi could be so destructive? I wonder what it takes to keep those marauding deer away.

Loved the photos of the horses...particularly the ones of Nick and Kipper! That looks like sooooo much fun!

Frazzled Farm Wife said...

The deer are thick around here too but haven't found my garden yet. I am all for eliminating as many as possible in the fall...less to hit with my vehicle.

KC said...

I don't know if you are still having trouble with your blog or not.. but I saw you had a few new post when I was reading from bloglines, but when I came to yoursite to read them and comment it is only letting me see this post from July 4th. :(

So is it my computer messed up or are you still having issues with your blog??

Tammy said...

Me too...this was over a week ago so- have you posted since this one? Was wondering how you were doing...if you read this, stop by and say hello!