Grass vs Wood or "Who mulched my lawn?"

  Yesterday's post found me bewailing the fact that algae is taking over the Bayou.  I was placing most of the blame on neighbors who insist on dousing their lawns with chemical fertilizers.  While I suspect this is helping the algae flourish, I may be jumping the gun on accusing anyone and for that I apologize.  Perhaps it is just a prolific year for algae!  Still, the fact that I have a green and slimy Bayou makes me bit sad.  That type of bayou does not belong here!  Maybe it has a place in some zombie movie but not in real life.  All I can do is hope and pray that it does not get too bad.

  Today, however, I am seeing a different lawn in my yard compared to that across the Bayou.  My neighbors have lovely green grass.  I have wood!  I guess you can call it wood, more like mulch.  No, I did not mulch the entire yard but the squirrels are well on their way of doing it for me. Pine cone petals are being layered almost an inch thick under most of the trees.  Maybe because of the lack of food elsewhere, but the squirrels are attacking the pine trees with a unheard of vengeance!  This would not be unusual if it were late November through mid February but in August? The pine cones are still green!  The seeds held within cannot be fully matured so just what are those varmints thinking?   I know that squirrels do not "think" ahead too very often but if it were up to me, I think I would let those seeds develop a tad more.  The larger the seeds, the quicker my belly would fill!  But like I said, squirrels are not known to use a lot of logic.  They are hungry so they scrounge whatever they find.  My pine cones fit the bill just fine.  Come this winter, though, it will be a different story and these same rodents will be begging for a handout at my birdfeeders.

  The question at hand now, however, is what to do with the thick layer of prickly pine cone petals.  The petals wreak havoc on bare feet!  My habit of trotting about the hillside barefooted during the summer months has had to come to a halt for the duration of the munching of pine cones.  The leather moccasins that I wear the rest of the year do not even provide much protection.  The sharp points can cut right through the thin leather. I suppose my hikes will have to be routed around the piles of petals and pine cones for now. Squirrels...I may just not feed you greedy things this winter so you had better be storing a good bit of your seeds!  Hmmmmph! Now I need to figure out how to make a squirrel-proof birdfeeder.  Silly squirrels!