There is a chipmunk who has been eating my peas. It pulls them off the vine, opens the shells, and pulls out the peas. It also leaves the husks for me to clean up. Apparently, chipmunks are rare and so I should be happy to have it's company. He or she certainly is tame. Hardly moves when I go out to ask it to leave me some peas. I’m going to buy it a bag of peanuts.
Last year I had a couple of black bears in my driveway rooting through my refuse pails. I called the Department of Natural Resources. She said “O yes, there have been sightings in your neighborhood” and told me how to discourage bears (don’t put out the garbage until the last minute and make noise when out in the evening and don’t play dead with black bears, they will attack).
Then there are the deer (I use a rotten egg spray to keep them away. It works, so far). And the bunnies and the slugs. Now, the slugs are going too far! I am very squeamish about slugs (and a lot of other squishy bugs). A friend was telling me her husband picks them up with his bare hands and puts them in a carefully made bed of delectable garden trimmings and gives them a new home (in a yogurt container). What amazing patience. A real mastery of aggression. I have a long way to go there!
When I was in Cape Breton a couple of weeks ago I saw a fox on the road.
By the time I got out of my car to take a picture, it took off.
I was told that every year a mother moose brings her weaned and trained baby moose there and abandons it. Apparently it looks around frantically for mommy and then gives up and adjusts.
Sometimes I wonder why I am living in the country. Maybe I am not fit for this interaction with nature. On the positive side, there is no speed of a city to become absorbed in. The noise level of crows can be the biggest problem; the song of the loons the greatest joy. The constant prattle of the brook by my house a lullaby. Living so close to nature here, I see my own nature more clearly. And I can be my own nature more easily. So my fears of slugs and bears and my intense aversion to the yearly spring invasion of ants are small irritations in the larger picture.
My garden center told me a great way to catch slugs is to put out a bowl of stale beer overnight. They are attracted to the scent and will crawl into the bowl. (They drown, of course, but hey, no more slugs and no insecticides to spray.)
Posted by: toni at August 22, 2004 02:17 AMThanks, Toni. I've heard of it and will have to try it. I heard last night from friends that they have seen huge slugs on the sidewalks in Halifax! It must be the weird weather we are having.
Posted by: Leya at August 23, 2004 11:02 AMI f**kin love peas and im well chuffed that theyve dun a website especially for peas i just love to undress them takin them out of there little jacket and putting them in my pan and cooking them till there cooked. i just lyk the roundness its so abstract i f**kin luv them with chips and meat and potatoes oooooohhhhhhh i luv potatoes there skins so warm, so soft i can smell shit i burnt em noooooooooooooooooooo
Posted by: Ben Drysdale at January 29, 2005 03:20 PM