Maybe a few figs?

   I admit to being a mite frustrated at the critters roaming about the place.  Since all of the property to our west has been clear cut, we have been invaded by just about every critter imaginable.  While I love critters of all types, you would think this would be fine but those very same animals are hungry.  They have been raiding the fruit trees and vegetable garden day and night.  When they hit the peach trees and plum trees, I was quite miffed, to say the least.  It really would not be so bad if they actually ate the fruit and not just "sampled" each and every one.  Most wind up on the ground ruined by bite marks.  What to do, what to do?  Well, I picked anything that was large and starting to ripen and left the rest.  The picked fruit was placed on trays and let ripen inside.  In the past few weeks, I have canned more fruit than is needed.  So it all worked out ok. 

  Now, the pears are starting to be attacked.  Beneath the pear trees, the ground is littered with half eaten pears.  The fruit is far too small to be picked so it does not look promising.  I suppose the fig trees will be the next buffet for the fruit-eating critters.  All of the fig trees are loaded with fruit and I am in hopes of at least getting a few but that may not happen.

  Pop always used to say "If something is hungry, let it eat.  Plant more next year."  Well, Pop.  I guess I better get busy and plant more trees because we sure have a lot of hungry critters on our hands!

Ham Is Not To Their Liking

   The conundrum of the starving, displaced critters is saddening but I can only do so much to help.  Thankfully, I have had to "clean out" one of the freezers as it is starting to go bad.  The freezer is old so this is just what I have been needing to get myself in gear and do a purge.  Instead of just tossing everything at one time, I have been doling the foodstuffs out over a series of days.  This is probably a bad idea as it draws critters like a magnet.  Still, since they are starving and the food is beyond its prime, it is helpful on both ends.  Last night saw me tossing some ham that had been in the freezer for some years.  It had gotten down under other things and was forgotten.  As I chopped the sliced ham in small portions, I figured that the coons would, at least, enjoy the meal.  I was wrong.

  Just before dark, I peeked out the door and found that four young raccoons (last year's litter) were nibbling birdseed.  Their round, little mama had obviously brought them to introduce them to a free meal.  She will soon abandon them while she has her next litter.  The youngsters will then be on their own...ready or not.  The coons, however, were not one bit interested in the ham.  It sat in the old pan untouched.  Wow!  That sure makes you wonder about the edibility of ham!  If coons won't eat it, something is amiss!  Coons eat just about anything!  (I am glad I do not eat meat.)  Nary a coon tasted the ham.  They kept  nibbling birdseed.

  A bit later, I peeked again and found that there was one critter that had no qualms about munching down the preservative laden ham.  A box turtle had made its way to the buffet and was right up in the pan enjoying the ham slices.  Go figure.  

  The coons are going to be in for a big surprise soon as the foodstuffs from the freezer are dwindling and soon the handouts will be scarce.  Hopefully, the youngsters will have enough sense to find their own meals from this point.  There are plenty of fiddler crabs and bull minnows just waiting to be caught so they had better learn to hunt real soon.  At least, my handouts will have given them something to munch in the meantime.  Sorry, my critter friends, the free ride is about to end.  Now go be a coon and not a wannabe pet.  The turtle, on the other hand, is welcome to stay in the gardens.

That is not a peach tree!

     I have a lot of fruit trees dotting the gardens.  Each of the plum trees and peach trees were loaded with fruit so I expected to be canning fruit for the entire month.  Well, we also have an overabundance of critters now that nary a tree stands on the acreage west of my brother's place.  All of the animals that were not immediately killed were displaced and are now starving to death.  (It is saddening to know they are suffering merely because of the greed of humans.  I would not be able to sleep at night knowing I caused this much agony on any creature.)  The critters have no place to go other than the Bayou so my fruit trees have been fair game for the critters.  There is not much I can do other than share.  Lots of the fruit is merely "tasted" then dropped to the ground.  That is frustrating as it is a huge waste.  Son and I picked several hundred of each type before they were tasted and let them ripen indoors.  Enough jam, jelly and preserves were made to last for the year so all is good.  The rest of the fruit will be left for the animals.  

  This afternoon, I was out taking one last walk through the gardens when I noticed something strange.  Up in the top of the live oak tree on the west side of the house was something rosy pink.  Well, now!  That is not a peach tree!  Obviously, a squirrel had stolen a peach and managed to get it to the opposite side of the yard, up the tree and then got chased from its prize.  The peach sits perfectly balanced on the large limb.  Perfectly balanced that is until the next thunderstorm rolls through the area later tonight.  Then the winds will shake the peach loose and it will come crashing down...right on the old truck!  It seems that the "critter damage" is not just confined to the fruit trees.  Hopefully, some other critter will take a liking to the peach and remove it before it falls.  Oak trees are not supposed to have peaches!