Damn racoons!

The racoons tried to get into our deck again on Friday night. They like to nest under the bench, but we've put chicken wire all along the back edge, so they can't get in anymore.

Although, it looks like they tried to chew their way in through the front this time. We pulled it apart to make sure nothing was sleeping inside. Then nailed it all back together. Again. I can't wait to get our deck replaced!

Gone!

We caught Mickey last night. In one of the snap traps. Gone. And I don't feel bad about it all. I only hope he was the only one.

Build a mouse trap!

OMG, we have a mouse in the house! What a horrible thing to discover! Apparently, the little guy was in my pantry cupboard, and pigging out on my rice, and white chocolate chips. Yup, white chocolate chips. He/she/they ate 1/2 a bag of white chocolate chips. Along with a lot of other stuff.

Today, we are in the process of setting traps, throwing out all the food that they touched, washing all the containers that everything else was in, and washing out the cupboard. Hubby even stuffed steel wool into the little crevices where we think they are getting into the cupboard. But we still haven't figured out how they are getting into the house to begin with.
I'm not sure if we will catch anything. On one hand I hope we do, so I can relax and pretend they are gone. On the other hand, I hope we don't catch anything, and that they have just moved on, and aren't around anymore. We put white chocolate chips into the traps. They seemed to like those.

more hummingbird photos

This summer has been full of hummingbirds in our backyard. So, over the last few weeks, I've got some great photos...

Too Hot

Yet another heat wave in Vancouver this week -- today we topped out at 35, or 32 in the house, despite the forecast showing slightly lower temps...

It's still over 30 in the house and it's almost 9:00pm! Even Mr. Squirrel decided it was too hot today, and was just hanging out in the neighbour's tree. He didn't even try to move when I got real close to take a picture.

Yup, too hot today!

Racoon issues, again!

Remember when we had a raccoon nesting in our deck? Well, it happened again. But this time, before I called the "Wildlife Critter" guys, I decided to do what they did when they were here. I put a radio right over top of where they were nesting for about an hour. When that didn't make Momma want to move on, I started spraying the whole area of the deck with Febreeze. Momma raccoon did NOT like that one bit. I remember the Wildlife guy telling me that they like a very clean den. And when he got them to move out the first time, he sprayed the den with this deodorizer so they wouldn't come back. I thought Febreeze would do the same thing.
And it did! It worked. After spraying almost 1/2 a bottle all over the deck, and around the entrance where we think she was getting in, Momma raccoon decided to take her babies out and move them somewhere else. She took the first baby out, and then came back about 1/2 hour later to get the second baby.
Wow -- a $4 bottle of Febreeze sure beats a $400 bill from "Wildlife Critter Care"!

Stellar Jays

We have a couple of Stellar Jays that have nested in the neighbours tree. They are always in our backyard, and while they are very pretty, they can also be very noisy.

While reviewing the pictures I took of them, I found this one of them flicking a bug into their mouth...

Sadly, I'm not sure if they will be around much anymore. A crow decided to raid their nest today. I'm not sure if they had eggs, or babies in the nest, but in a hail of caws and commotion, the crow flew off with something in his beak, and I've only seen the pair of jays once since then.

Hummingbirds

We have seen a lot of hummingbirds this year. A lot. We have to add more nectar to the feeders every week, because they've been drinking so much. And I'm always trying to get more pictures of these fast moving little guys. Here are a couple of pics from my latest attempt.

Pretty Kitty

A friend of mine lives in Whistler. Imagine his surprise when he saw this in his back yard!

Everyone loves the pool

My pool is a magnet for everyone in the neighbourhood. But, not who you might think...
There is me -- always floating around in my chair reading my waterproof e-reader.
But there is also the racoons. Leaving their muddy footprints on the first ladder step, as they wash their hands in the pool at night.
There are the butterflies, that swoop down, grab a quick drink, and fly off.
There is the small black bat, that swoops across the surface of the pool at night to skim mosquitos and other insects.
There are the multitude of spiders, earwigs, worms, bees, flies, and ants that flock to the pool, fall in, and which we have to skim off the surface each morning.
And there are the multitude of birds, hummingbirds, and dragonflies that fly overhead while you are floating around.
I'm not sure we would get as much wildlife in the backyard, if we didn't have the pool. Which makes me happy to know that I'm not the only one that enjoys it.

Wildlife Control

So, Mama raccoon and her two babies were still there this morning. So, I called AAA Wildlife Control and (after re-arranging their schedule) promised to send someone out late today to deal with the issue.

Around 4:00, Chris came by, and when I opened the door for him, there was a raccoon at the front door!! Turns out, it wasn't our Mama raccoon, but another larger one that was strolling around the neighbourhood.
Well, Chris managed to get Mama's two babies out, and put them safely in a box away from the nest. Mama took off, but within 20 minutes or so, had come back to pick up her babies and take them somewhere else. Chris sealed up all the entrances to the nest, and chased Mama away when she came back 3 times to try and get back in. After a couple of hours, we were sealed up, and raccoon free.
Although the whole experience was a little expensive, I think it was completely worth it. And Mama and babies were not harmed in the process. Hopefully, they are safe and happy in a new den in someone else's yard.

Wildlife

We have a mama racoon and two babies who have taken up residence in an old planter in our deck. Cute, but not too sure I want her to be there.

We tried to chase her out by annoying the heck out of her. She got kind of growly with me, but didn't seem to want to move anywhere. Hopefully, now that we've taken the roof off of her den, she'll move on tonight, and be gone in the morning.

Birds

Today, I spent the morning in the backyard watching the birds. I saw a multitude of hummingbirds, robins, chick-a-dees of various colours and sizes, a Northern Flicker, and two Eurasian Collared Doves. (Thanks Google for helping me identify the doves!) They have a nest in a nearby tree, and we often hear them, but don't usually see them. Today, they both landed on the fence not 10 feet away from me. These are picks of the Doves, and the Northern Flicker from the "allaboutbirds.org" website. And hummingbirds! So many of them this year! They come to the feeders and flowers every 1/2 hour or so. So, sitting in the back yard, you see an awful lot of them. And I'm really surprised at how close they get to me.

Backyard fun

The hanging baskets for the pool area have been purchased, and hung...

I had my first mojito of the season. Then I had my second...

The hummingbird feeder has been hung up...

Playing with my camera, and a small butterfly came to visit...

It was a beautiful day in the backyard today.

wildlife

We saw deer on the side of the road near Burns Bog today.

Gaggle of Geese

I left work tonight, and found my drive off of the site full of Canadian Geese...

Apparently, they are our environmentally friendly clean up crew when we have a grain shipment come in. What you see in the picture was about 1/3 of the geese that I could see. They were basically surrounding my car, and only moved when they realized I wasn't going to stop for them.

Geese, geese, everywhere

There are a few Canadian Geese families hanging around work these days. Today, it seemed like they were all together on the small patch of grass at the front of the office building...

Saturday radomness

The local racoons were living it up on our back deck last night. They found our green bin, dragged it across the deck, opened it up, and had a midnight feast...

What a mess to clean up! And I've heard that racoons have great memories. So, I'm not using my green bin for a few weeks. Hopefully, if they don't find any food around for a few weeks, they won't come back. At least, that's the plan.

Tonight we also went out for dinner with hubby's brother, and his wife. What a great night out. Both of us girls celebrated birthdays this week, and both myself and bro-in-law are celebrating promotions at work as of Nov 1st. So, we celebrated by going out for dinner, and then came back here for drinks. We had a great time. I think we had just as much fun as the racoons did last night.

Too Cute

I picked up this little guy from the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory.

He's a caramel apple, covered in chocolate, and proceeds go to the O.W.L. Rehabilitation Centre in Delta. I picked this up for hubby, but he said it was too cute to eat. I agree.

They grow up so fast

Pics of the babies that Momma and Poppa Goose had. Only 2 left of the original 3 that hatched. Not sure what happened to #3... don't really want to think about that. But, they grow up so fast, don't they?

They are kind of in that awkward pre-teen stage now. All gangly and not the cute little fluff balls they used to be. But, still intriguing to watch.