Tuesday: A day to deal with the “neighbors.”
As you can see by Itzl's concerned look, this group gives Kossacks a safe place to check in, a daily diary where we can let people know we are alive, doing OK, and not affected by such things as heat, blizzards, floods, wild fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, power outages, earthquakes, or other such things that could keep us off DKos. It also allows us to find other Kossacks nearby for in-person checks when other methods of communication fail - a buddy system. If you're not here, or anywhere else on DKos, and there are adverse conditions in your area (floods, heatwaves, hurricanes, earthquakes etc.), we and your buddy are going to check up on you. If you are going to be away from your computer for a day or a week, let us know here. We care!
IAN is a great group to join, and a good place to learn to write diaries. Drop one of us a Kosmail and ask to be added to the Itzl Alert Network anytime! We all share the publishing duties, and we welcome everyone who reads IAN to write diaries for the group! Every member is an editor, so anyone can take a turn when they have something to say, photos and music to share, a cause to promote or news!
We do have a diary schedule. But, when you are ready to write that diary, either post in thread or send FloridaSNMOM a Kosmail with the date. If you need someone to fill in, ditto. FloridaSNMOM is here on and off through the day usually from around 9:30 or 10 am eastern to around 11 pm eastern.
Monday: Crimson Quillfeather
Tuesday: ejoanna
Wednesday: Pam from Calif
Thursday: art ah zen
Friday: FloridaSNMOM
Saturday: FloridaSNDad
Sunday: loggersbrat
And by “the neighbors” I mean burgeoning wildlife around this little patch of SF Bay Area suburbia. Yes, folks, in counties around The Bay, it’s getting a lot more crowded.
I was struck by the turkeys-in-the-hood photo up top—and, frankly, grateful that that gang ain’t roaming my back forty, yet. I did see one turkey years ago in the garden. Almost gave me a heart attack as, before you could say “Up Periscope,” the turkey’s head popped up from the tall weeds I hadn’t tamed yet, swiveled around (seemingly 360 degrees)—then disappeared. I still haven’t completely recovered. I’m told that the turkeys we see in the photo above are not exactly “wild.” They were introduced into CA some decades ago as “game animals.” And then things got out of hand, so to speak.
As for the main, um, “neighbors”, that would be deer. Lots and lots of deer. Which is why the main part of my garden is fenced and gated off. Otherwise my yard would resemble the (unfrozen) tundra. These “adorable” (a relative term) Bambis would have long ago mowed down most of the greenery—and trampled the rest. Just saying, it’s what they do for a living.
There are, of course, squirrels—and I suspect some of them ate my winter lettuce crop just as it was getting lush and pick-able. And this even with plastic netting over the containers.
The local birds can eat up a lot of vegetation and the pretty fall/winter berries, but we distract them (largely) with several generously-stocked bird feeders.
Then there are (were) 2 foxes. They were gosh-darn cute, but they also ate part of my vegetable garden—and once they growled (!!) at Mr. ej, innocently reading outside.
Haven’t seen the fox pair in 2 months and I suspect, sorta sadly, that they may have met up with. .
. . .the coyotes. Yep, we hear them howling many nights. It’s an eerie sound at best, especially in an urban edge like ours. They probably wouldn’t bother my flowers or vegetables (although, unlike the deer, they probably could scale or dig under my fence fortress.) No, they are looking higher on the food chain. That’s why our cat NEVER goes outside, even during the day. Never.
So, it’s a jungle out there. And I haven’t yet even mentioned the Canada Geese in the Bay Area. Not that they’re in my neighborhood, for they prefer the tax-payer supported greenswards of public parks and school athletic fields. They’re not that shy of people, either.
And, regrettably, Canada ain’t repatriating them anytime soon (the geese, that is.)
How’s the wildlife situation in your neck of the woods?