What's outside of your picture window today?

Elizabeth my husband solved my "rats at the feeder" (safely for the birds and nearby pets) with an enclosed personal rat feeding station.

We usually leave the critters alone, but these guys were so bold they used to play in our carport at night - entertaining the neighbor! Mine is placed under low-growing palm fronds where the birds don't venture. It got rid of both the pack rats and desert rats.

They are called "Rat Bait Stations" - you put the poison inside, lock the box and place it near where they run. We got ours at the local hardware store, but I think you can find them on line. We use bait blocks in them, not pellets, so the rats gnaw off their "meal" and go back to their nest to die. If you use pellets, they tend to carry them out of the box, endangering other animals.
Sue

@sueinmn, and all...Oh, Thank you so much. I'll get that thing going today and hope to be rid of those nasty rodents. I've been dealing with them far too long. Last week 4 babies were on the patio feeding off the floor the dropped seeds and running all around having fun. They played on my kitchen window sill for the longest time! drove Samanta, kitty, nuts. I wouldn't let her out of course, although she does chase them and has killed one huge rat, I don't want her in that position. She's an indoor senior cat. So, she hops up on her kitchen window tower and watches/slaps at them as they play. It'd be cute if they weren't such horrid creatures. She does that as long as they stay. They ignore her!

Thank you again, Sue. Hope this works...Be well, Elizabeth

I've had this house for over 60 years. The pretty little creek (reason I bought this acreage and its crummy beach shack) has been totally ruined due to attempts to develop the hundreds of acres on two sides, a would-be development of almost 300 acres that has failed eight times...so far. Several of the developers did illegal things in a last-ditch attempt to avoid bankruptcy. One channelized the creek immediately below our place, so beavers moved in to "fix" things, building dams throughout the watershed. When there was a major storm in '96, a big dam not very far above our driveway blew out, taking out all the driveway around/above the culvert. One developer got permission from the City to extend a major road a half-mile into our watershed, at a place where the slope rises 500' in a half mile (really steep)...without any plan to deal with runoff, so water simply pours off the hill, into the back of our house, down the driveway, flooding it. This is the 14th winter I've often had to park all the way out beside the road to avoid having my car trapped for days by high water.
Worst of all, our local school dist. bought 58 acres, about 2/3rds of it draining into the creek's watershed. Although they have no immediate or even long-term firm plans to build, they sliced down all the trees and then bulldozed all the ground: when it rains hard, all that loose dirt moves down the steep hills, blows out old legacy roads, and causes huge floods, depositing tons of silt into the creek. As a result, there's nothing in the creek (no frogs or plants) for the ducks, Canada geese, or our resident heron to eat. This is the second year that the Canada geese have returned on schedule, but never built a nest, nor are there many ducks, none of them nesting. Our once-resident heron is often missing for a day or two, foraging for food elsewhere. I no longer fall asleep at night listening to a froggy chorus. Instead of the pretty little creek, I have a new half-acre of ugly mud flat/marsh in my lower front yard. Only "benefit" is that I have less grass to mow, but I don't mind mowing at all.
Yes, development is a wonderful thing...NOT!
Here's a photo of the resident heron and an egret which continues to try to move into our little valley, resulting in spectacular aerial combat right outside my big office window!

Hi @joyces -- I love that pic! After reading your comment about spectacular aerial combat, I look at that photo and see them walking ten paces and then turning around to do battle. Haha I hope more cute birds and critters show up for your viewing pleasure!

I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS PICTURE !!! 🙂

@sueinmn, @becsbuddy , @johnbishop, @loribmt and all...here are a few pictures of myrtle indoor rescue plants from last year, saved from the garden shop garbage. The Lucky Tree had 3 trunks, one survived and it went from 6"to 2+'. I reported all 8 of them yesterday, an emotionally heing treat but physically dumb. Paying for it today with pain and exhaustion...but they're all happy and ready to take on the spring. Still no idea what the one is with the hugh bulb, delicate leaves and branches...
Here you go-
Blessings, elizabeth

@becsbuddy, and all...I hate auto fill! Can you make sense of my message?
My. Not myrtle.
Reported not reported!

Right now we have a rollicking mountain thunder-and-lightning storm passing through. Although we have had an extraordinary amount of rain and snow this winter, I am still worried about lightning-strike caused fires in our mountains. The thunder is enough to shake the house!

The atmospheric pressure is fluctuating wildly, causing a not so nice headache that I could easily do without. Fortunately, we mowed the lawn yesterday, so that chore is done. But I had hopes of pulling weeds today, Nope, that is off the table!
Ginger

Today is a special day. Finally, after 10 years we have increased the brightness of our bedroom and developed an opportunity to expand our view of the outside including not only the Mississippi River but migratory birds and our two eagles. When we turn the outside lights on during a snow storm it will be very engaging. So I guess it pays to have patience.

I think i figured it out. You just have to take a screen shot and then it works. Da Dah!