Monsters In The Greenhouse!

   I am NOT my happiest right now!  I made a discovery that has upset my whole set of plans for this week.  Backtracking, I had good intentions of having the house fully decorated for Halloween plus taking advantage of our cool weather to do some yard work.  Well, a big kink has been thrown in that well-laid plan. There is another major chore that demands attention.  This one will have to be left up to me since Son is still repairing the water damage around the fireplace in the dining room. I may as well push up the shirt sleeves and get to work come morning light.

  This morning, I was going to make space in the greenhouse for two of the porch rockers.  Stuff has been shoved in there while Son is (was before the water damage) remodeling the shed.  Everything from the shed was jammed in my greenhouse.  There is not a lot of space in there for anything but I really need to store the two chairs for a couple of months.  While there, I noticed that my seed packets were on the floor.  Well now!  I imagined that the squirrels had somehow made their way into the greenhouse and decided to steal a few seeds.  No problem.  I went to pick up the packets and saw it....IT!!! There was a huge rat nest in the corner behind the gardening tools.  My couple of months of recuperating from illness left the greenhouse up for grabs obviously!  "Well, I guess I would get rid of a rat nest before clearing a spot for the chairs." Then...another nest!  Oh, geez!  It seemed as if a whole colony of critters was in the greenhouse!  

  While battling rats, I noticed that the weather packing around the eaves was sagging.  I gave it a gentle poke with an old flounder gig thinking perhaps this roof had also developed a leak.  Oof!  THAT was heavy!  I poked harder and heard a squeak and some rustling. Geez!  Those rats are huge!!!  I poked harder!  The critter rummaged around to the north side of the eaves and then half fell through!  A fluffy, striped tail and one dark foot dangled precariously through the vent.  Raccoon!  Yep, I now had to battle raccoons!  So...poke again!  Squeal, rummage and into the greenhouse, went the coon.  I raced around the side and into the door only to find several coons up in the rafters.  They were frightened and a bit confused as to why their daytime snooze had been interrupted.  Suddenly, one coon fell (or dove) from the rafter and started scurrying around the greenhouse floor in search of a new hiding place.  Well, with that much stuff packed in the small space, hiding was relatively easy.  Then, plop! Another coon and another.  Three, madly-racing, juvenile raccoons , a crazy, old lady with a flounder gig and a mountain of junk suddenly became like a huge pinball machine.  It was crazy!

  Needless to say, I gave up.  I was exhausted from this fracas!  I will attempt again in the morning.  Hopefully by then, the coons and the rats will have had enough of the gig-wielding monster and will have vacated my greenhouse!  Otherwise, the battle will continue!  I sure need to find me a big, ole rat snake to inhabit the space.  By now, it would resemble an anaconda in size with the ample supply of prey hiding in the greenhouse.  So much for decorating the house.  It is already Halloween in the greenhouse!  Monsters!

Waging War!

  It seems that during the 1930s, a ship made a run from South America to the Port of Mobile (Alabama).  Supposedly, this ship used dirt as ballast and supposedly, the folks loading the ballast were not overly observant about what dirt they used.  (Or, perhaps, there were no laws about such things back then.)  The dirt contained fire ants and, once the ship made port, the ants found a new home.  So, according to all accounts, Mobile, Alabama was where the feisty critters found their start in the United States.  Since then, the ants found the area favorable due to the warm, humid climate and they multiplied greatly.  The colonies soon spread all over the southeast and that includes the area around the Bayou.  We have our share of the little, biting buggers.  I have been battling fire ants for as long as I can remember!  Not one that likes using a lot of harmful chemicals, I use a method that Mark's uncle taught me.  This involves bringing a very large pot of water to a boil, toting it outside to the fire ant mound, using a long stick, poke a hole in the top of the mound and, finally, dumping the entire pot of hot water into the mound.  The water causes the mound to collapse killing thousands of the mean critters.  The next day, check the area.  Usually, the remaining live ants will be carrying out their dead and the damaged eggs.  Others may be relocating within a short distance and creating a new mound.  It is best to attack both sites this time..the new mound and the old caved-in mound.  This method has proven to lessen the number of mounds in the yard greatly. 

  I did find a huge mound this afternoon.  Son and I were out doing a bit of yard work when I happened to walk past a large clump of palmettos.  I rarely go past this clump since it is on the edge of our property.  Today, however, I meandered on the back side and found the gigantic fire ant mound!  My goodness!  This thing towered above the ground a good 18 inches high and was 2 feet in diameter!  I made a mental note to boil water tomorrow!  Son and I will tackle the colony with a vengeance over the next few days.  Normally, the ants will mate in spring but with the lack of winter, they may take a notion to swarm soon.  It will be wise to try to eradicate them while they are all still in the one mound.

Bite/Sting...Whatever!

  Down here in the Deep South (probably in a lot of other places, as well), we deal with a lot of critters.  I am usually pretty tolerant of most as I chose a mantra of "Live and let live".  I do, however, draw the line with things that bite/sting me, eat my garden or eat my house.  Yep, I am talking bugs here.  Our bout with termites eating the house (thanks, Hurricane Katrina) and an onslaught of weird grasshoppers eating the garden has taught me a couple of things.  First...be sure to take care of those critters right away.  Do not assume that because you only see a few, there are no more.  There are and they will soon wreak havoc on everything.   Several types of the critters are literally trying to eat us out of house and home.  We are dealing...slowly. Two...be careful where you step as some of the critters inflict pain!  Causing them to go into defensive mode is asking for trouble!

  One type of critter that is the bane of my existence is the fire ant.  These ants excavate massive hives beneath the ground and create large mounds above ground.  I am ok with ants being around the place as they do serve a purpose.  They clean up dead things or rotted things.  The stench of what could be is not a happy thought.  I am grateful for that but I am not overly happy with the critters biting/stinging me.  I do realize that they are trying to defend their territory but it just happens that this is also my territory.  Accidentally stepping on the side trails of an ant mound can lead to a leg full of nasty pus-filled lesions that can linger for a week or more.  To those that are allergic or weakened, a number of the bites/stings can cause severe medical issues.  

  As you may have noticed, I keep saying bite/sting and that is not an oversight.  Fire ants bite only to get a good grip on you so they can use their stinger which is located on their posterior end.  The stinger is loaded with venom that causes serious pain!  It is because of this, that fire ants are not on my "Like List".  This afternoon, I was traipsing about behind the canebrake when I accidentally stepped on one of those side trails leading to a mound.  Immediately, my leg felt like it was on fire!  The red, swollen areas still itch tonight and it is driving me crazy!!  Fire ants are evil beings!  After the rains that supposed to set in tonight, I shall be out hunting down those critters and exterminating all I can.  This is war!

Protecting His Territory

  Herons are funny birds.  They have no problem with nesting in huge colonies called heronries where there may be hundreds of mating couples nesting but let it come to food and they are fiercely territorial.  Let a heron find a good feeding spot and no one had better fly in to take advantage of his luck.  A heron is not willing to share his bounty even when his "cup is overflowing".  

  Early this morning, the trip to the pier proved interesting, to say the least.   With Hurricane Michael brewing out in the Gulf, our tide was a lot higher than normal.  With water lapping at the top of the pier boards, it seemed like a good fishing day.  After bait was caught, I had a visitor.  My old friend, Moe, came flying in to beg for breakfast.  This is the heron that I started feeding several months ago.  The youngster would come thrice daily to get his belly full of menhaden, mullet or little croakers.  He came for a few months then disappeared.  This morning, he must have been hungry as he came back to where he always got a sure meal.  I obliged and caught the bird an entire net full of menhaden.  He happily dined on the feast laid out before him.  Once his appetite was sated, he flew to a pier post to preen.  All was well and happy until...the interloper came.

  Another young heron came by to grab a bite of leftovers and that did not set well with Moe.  He was not in the mood to share his leftovers with anyone!   At first, the squabble was nothing more than a few squawks, the puffing up of feathers and the flapping of wings with the birds perched on posts about 20 feet apart. The interloper was insistent on grabbing a bite.  Things quickly turned ugly.  Moe left his perch to fly in behind the other bird.  Pow!  Moe hit the interloper with a mighty whack!  Both birds battled midair until Moe overpowered the smaller bird and sent him reeling into the water.  There the battle continued until the interloper flew to the opposite end of the pier.  The fight did not end there.  Moe followed the bird and hit him again.  Finally, Moe chased the interloper to the other side of the Bayou.  Moe had won...sort of...while  they were fighting, a seagull made quick work of the menhaden!

A Battle For Life

  Sometimes life on the Bayou is not easy.  The critters here are in a constant battle for survival and it truly is the fittest that wins.  The stronger, braver and more cunning a critter is, the more it will get to eat.  It is evident that the weak will not survive long and if they do, it will be a struggle.

  This morning, I headed out the back door to do a bit of yard work.  Armed with a weed-trimmer, mower and snips, I was ready to tackle this rain-forest we used to call a yard.  Ducking under the peach tree, I plugged the trimmer cord into the outlet only to find that I had a large critter crawling up my arm.  Silly mantis!  I am not prey!  Gingerly, I set him on the workbench so I could continue my chores.  It did not take long before I realized that the chores would be postponed for a bit.  I had inadvertently set the praying mantis on the same board as a katydid.  The battle for life ensued and things did not bode well for the katydid.  A praying mantis is a formidable predator with a voracious appetite and the katydid looked mighty fine as a meal.  

  It became apparent that the katydid immediately realized that it was in extreme danger even though the two critters were not too much different in size.  Instead of fleeing, however, the katydid froze.  Normally, this defense would be somewhat effective if the katydid was on a plant and its natural camouflage could hide it but in the openness of the workbench, freezing just gave the mantis more of an opportunity to stalk the katydid.  At first, the mantis swayed back and forth in a gentle motion.  Then, it eased forward a bit.  The katydid stayed motionless.  Again, the mantis eased forward but slipped off the edge of the board to become almost hidden from view.  The mantis was sneaking up on the katydid!!!  Closer, closer...ever closer but so very slowly did the mantis creep. 

  Then, up on top of the board again and face to face with the katydid!  The mantis was about to dine upon the katydid!  As the mantis made its final lunge at the katydid, everything changed.  The katydid did a flying leap off of the workbench and into the grass below!  At first the mantis seemed confused that it did not have the other critter in a death grip!  However, it did not take long before the mantis spied the katydid just a few feet below and it, too, jumped off of the bench to the ground.  The chase was still on but this time, the katydid was more active about escaping.  The freeze method had not worked and almost made the katydid lose its life so now it was scrambling toward cover.

  This time, the praying mantis did not win.  The katydid escaped into the marigolds and the praying mantis slowly eased its way under the fig leaves for a wren family had made its way to the garden to hunt for breakfast.  Either of the insects would have been a prime target for the wrens.  Me?  I was late getting started with that yard work and had to hustle!  Too much time was spent dawdling as I watched the struggle for life.  Time to work! The battle between critters would just have to take place without me!

Monsters From The Murky Depths Of The Bayou

  Fiddler crabs are funny little creatures.  They spend most of their time in the mud.  They dig burrows in the soft mud, they spend hours sifting mud to find food and they hibernate in the mud during the winter.  With all this dealings with mud, you would think these were "mudbugs" but not so.  Mudbugs are crayfish or as we call them down here "crawfish".  But back to those crazy little crabs.  Usually, fiddler crabs are pretty docile critters if you can ever catch one.  The speedy little crabs dart into their holes so fast that it is unusual that one is caught.  If you are lucky enough to catch one, however, it is a rare occurrence that you will be on the receiving end of a pinch.  Their claws are used more for feeding and for their ostentatious display during courtship.

  It is also rare to see any actual combat between rival males.  More oft than not, the larger of two competing males will intimidate the smaller one.  Just waving a larger claw around in the air seems to be enough battle for the crabs.  Today, however, I noticed a regular battle happening down near the marsh.  

  The tide was unusually high causing water to flood up under the old oak trees.  A small disturbance in the water caught my eye and I immediately thought that a tiny snake was having trouble getting ashore.  As I stood staring at the ripples, two large claws rose up out of the water.  The claws were clasping each other as two males fought over territory and a female that was observing the fight.  She actually seemed to be a bit unimpressed with the whole ordeal.

  I watched for a few minutes but decided that being chewed upon by hoards of mosquitoes was not a bright idea.  The fiddler crabs would have to settle their differences without my interference.  Yeah, I was really bored today.  So much so that I watched an underwater battle between two crabs.

Death by Strangulation

Rarely does it get so violent here on the Bayou that I need to intervene.  Sure, nature happens.  Hawks catch doves, owls catch rabbits and snakes catch most anything they want.  All critters eat something and, well, sometimes that something happens to be a cute and cuddly critter but still..that is nature.  So is the strangulation that took place in the garden this week.  Although it was quite devastating, it was nature!  A near-death experience!  I could not help but intervene.

Much to Michael's annoyance, I allowed flowers to grow in the vegetable garden.  "Volunteer" plants came up everywhere and, though I tried to move them to the flower beds, the job proved endless.  More flowers sprouted than I could transplant.  I left a "few" in the veggie garden..what could it hurt?  Well, obviously, it could hurt a lot!  Little did I know that some flowers are quite vicious!

An odd assortment of flowers had reseeded themselves.  Sunflowers, petunias, zinnias, violets and morning glories were everywhere!  An enormous amount were everywhere!  All was well, though, and Michael even admitted that he liked the sunflowers!  I was making progress with his love of flowers!  This suited me as I would have them everywhere..and pretty much did by early June.

Then..then..this morning when I was out cutting grass, I noticed something a tad disturbing!  My sunflowers were wilting!  This could not be!  I just watered them the night before.  They should be standing tall with their heads held high to greet the sun.  Instead, they were looking at the ground!  Something was killing my sunflowers and I must find out just what was doing the evil deed!  I investigated.

I was surprised and a bit heartbroken.  The perpetrator was another plant!  Death by strangulation is not a pretty sight and it was happening right before my eyes!  The morning glories were violently killing the sunflowers!  Just last night as I was watering, I noticed that all the plants were doing well and were pretty much holding their own. None were crowding the others and all appeared healthy.  The water must have been just what the morning glories needed for an immense growth spurt because this morning, they had taken over the other plants.  Overnight, I truly believe they grew at good six feet! My goodness!  The vines were wrapped everywhere!  The zinnias were being invaded!  The mint was blanketed with heart-shaped leaves!  The sunflowers were fighting for their lives!

Ok..as much as I adore the morning glories, enough is enough!  I pulled at the vines!  Ugh!  Those things were firmly rooted!  Pulling harder, I almost uprooted the poor sunflower!  Now I was killing the plant!  This would never do!  Snips!  I needed snips!  For a good hour, I battled the morning glories as I tried to help the sunflowers!  I know that by snipping the vines, they will return eventually.  Hopefully, by that time, the sunflowers and other flowers will have done their thing and I can relax about the morning glories taking over what is left of the garden.  Or..better yet..I can push that lawnmower right over them!