Something for Sunday

So. You might recall my battle with the wildlife in our yard. This is what the rabbits are still doing.

They are picking off all of the leaves of the houseplants I brought outside. I keep moving them around and trying to hide them in the landscaping, but the rabbits keep finding them. 

This was one that was destroyed earlier, but you can see how it is coming back.

You can tell that the rabbit was scared off before finishing. 

Butch caught him in the act! He watched and saw that they only ate the stems and left the leaves. I don't get it. When I have a salad, I prefer the leaves and sometimes leave the stems. This rabbit and I could be lunch partners!

I have really hidden the plants within the bushes this time. I'm anxious to see if the rabbits found them--when I get home. 

Now we have another problem.

This leaf is from a really old tree---about 50 or 60 feet tall. Some of the branches actually hang over the sunroom. In fact, when we changed insurance companies many years ago, they are charging us more because of the tree--even though we got a statement from our arborist saying that the tree was strong and not in danger of falling on the house. 

You might recall that this magnolia came down several years ago. Well, this is the only picture I have of the huge tree that I'm talking about now. It's there at the top of this photo in all its glory. You can see how big and wide it is.

Anyway, this leaf creeps me out. I don't know if it's something that can spread to our other trees (or if it already has). I had the arborist out but thought he would let me know when he was coming so I could talk to him. Instead, he came and did an inspection while we were at the beach. He gave me an estimate on cleaning up and trimming out all of our trees. I used to have him do it every year. It's very costly. And now, since I quit having it done every year, you can imagine how much it will be. I sent him an email saying that I want to just address the immediate needs--which includes this tree. If it needs to be removed I can't imagine what it will cost. Plus, it's a beautiful old tree and will leave quite a hole in our landscaping! I hope it doesn't come to that. I want him to tell me that this is just some sort of sign of age and is not detrimental. Somehow, I know that's wishful thinking. 

We have been battling wildlife for nearly 30 years of living here--29 to be exact. Here are all the animals that have done damage or caused me stress over the years:

1. Groundhog--right after we finished landscaping the sideyard, a groundhog went through and raised up most of the stepping stones. I learned that you just can't step on the mounds to make them go back down. I actually saw it once and it freaked me out.

2. Mice--under and in the house. I had filled up the space around the pond that sits on the patio with styrofoam peanuts. When we changed the landscaping bricks to the limestone we have now, the styrofoam was all gone---every last peanut. The mice relocated them under the house. We had a repairman tell us that we had styrofoam peanuts under the house, so that's how we knew they went there. We're told they last in landfills for thousands of years.

3. Skunks--I knew we had them under the house because I could smell them. We had the "Critter-Ridder" out to relocate them. We found out that we also had.. 

4. Opossums--under the house because they cohabitate with skunks.

5. Deer--who ate ground cover down to the ground in the sideyard.

6. Bats--in the belfry.

7. Snakes--well, I guess they are good for the garden, but they still bother me--a lot.

8. Moles--more times than we can count. This time they have destroyed the entire yard and beds. The last time we had the mole-in-nator out, he charged $25.00 per mole. I'll probably need to call him soon.

9. Grubs--because that's what the moles are feeding on.

10. Squirrels--who ate through the lead pipes on the roof causing leaks inside the house, destroyed the bird feeders, and pulled tile off the side of the pool. 

11. Chipmunks--tearing up the flower planters.

12. Rabbits--well you know about them. 

It's always somethin'!