NOOOO ... he's coming over to the house to take a look. Really? I think all they have control over is the color, which at this point doesn't matter because the guy around the corner painted part of his house PURPLE.
The GOOD news ... the HOA President arrived and after inspecting every inch of the front of the house, he gave me approval to build the cover. He said if Dan was building it, it would be the BEST. Well Dan isn't building it, but I didn't want to burst his bubble, so I remained silent.
It was 111 degrees yesterday, so my outside wanderings were short and sweet. The previous morning I discovered THIS!! OH NO!! One of Patty's cacti (cactuses?) is GONE and the top has been bitten off the second one. WHAT THE HECK?
I moved the remaining one up to the top shelf and this morning IT was GONE!! Here I was so proud of how I had watered them and they were all still alive.
Even MORE bad ..... that's when I also discovered the bites out of this one. Hey ... this is over twelve inches off the ground. What's eating them? Can't be rabbits, there is no way they can get in the yard. Do you think it's pack rats? I'm in shock and MAD as a wet hen!!
I moved them all to a tall table with metal legs, hoping nothing could crawl up that high. Whatever it was didn't seem to bother any of the other plants, just the cactus. Since the flashing rope lights work against rats under my rig, I'll get several and surround my patio. That might look rather cool at night!
I jumped in the Jeep and headed off to Harbor Freight, my favorite stinky store. To my shock and horror, after driving 20 miles to get there, the shelves were completely bare. They had not gotten any in for over a month. RATS!!! That's what I'm going to have ..... RATS!! I bought a $6 pair of leather gloves and headed off to Walmart.
Walmart can be a bad store. $60 seemed to be the magic number on this day. I picked up three solar lights, hoping the rats didn't like being in the spotlight, a pie plate water bowl (I'll tell you about that one tomorrow) two sets of patio lights and a quail block of seeds to feed the locals.
Next door was Petco where I found dog treats, also to the tune of $60. Good grief Charlie Brown. These kids eat better than I do!!
Finally back home, I set up the lights. Take THAT Mr. Rat!! Wait .... what's this weird green creature on one of the cactus plants. No idea what it is. Should it's days be numbered?
That's when I spotted THIS guy heading straight for the cactus plants ... at least where they USED to be. Could THIS be the culprit? Do these guys eat cactus? I tried to shoo him away, but he was persistent. As I watched in amazement, a bird came down and tried to grab him by the tail. He missed and the lizard scampered off. You never know about these critters, whether they are good or bad.
Last night as darkness fell, I was looking forward to seeing the solar lights come on. Nothing! Well for heavens sake ... I'm going to have more rats after all. That's when I discovered they have an on-off switch. Uh oh ... that's bad ..... they all shine directly into my living room. I'll adjust them later.
I checked the cactus garden this morning and all looks okay. I'm ordering more flashing lights from amazon anyway, just to be sure critters that go bump in the night don't come a visiting.
There was another beautiful sunset along with that 111 degrees. The good news, only 102 today, dropping down to the 90's all week. I'm pretty sure I will be adjusting next year's schedule.
I finally got some pictures of the OTHER critters in my back yard ... the good kind that I LOVE!! I'll show you those guys tomorrow.
Looks like you have a challenge battling the critters in you yard. Keep up the hunting and hope you find solutions.
ReplyDeleteApparently I do. No problem ... I'll get used to it sooner or later!!
DeleteSorry ISS was last night your time ,, Owell it will be back soon
ReplyDeleteNext time ..... now that I know where to look for it!!
DeleteJavelin would eat a whole cactus ,
ReplyDeletea packrat would take out a little bite .
a jackrabbit would be your best bet they like to eat the soft under portion
put the cactus on a card table or a higher bench
That's exactly what I did Ed ... I put them all on a high table. Hoping that works.
DeleteI'd be willing to be it's javelina eating the cactus. Had one in Tucson once that came through and took one or two bites and then was gone until the next night, when she came back to do the same thing again. We used to joke that she must be attending Weight Watchers.
ReplyDeleteHow funny ... little buggers just like to cause havoc1
DeleteHope you find out what is eating your cacti.
ReplyDeleteI have been catching up again and I really love all of your pictures but especially the one of the lightning.
Thank you so much. They are hard to capture, but I just love it when I get an image showing all that power.
DeleteNancy, go to the ISS site and you can sign up to receive emails when it will be over your area. You put in where you are and give them your email address and they will then send you an email when it will be passing over you. They will tell you which direction it will appear from and which direction it will disappear, also , how long it will be visible.
ReplyDeleteWow ... that's pretty cool. I'll check it out and sign up!
DeleteNancy, I left a comment on your Arizona Water post that you might be interested in.
ReplyDeleteThanks Bill, I'll go look.
DeleteGood luck with the cactus-eating critter! Good grief, of all the plants, they eat cactus??
ReplyDeleteYour light plans sound great, hope they work.
We enjoy watching the ISS every time we can. Just like children, we run outside and watch the full orbit.
Well I for one have never heard that you can see it. I can't wait to try and photograph it.
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