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Wednesday, July 10, 2013

Tuesday's Tickle!


I decided to stop by this afternoon and say hello.  I hope you all are doing well, and, not suffering the summer heat too much.  I am willing to share the hot Texas temps with anyone who needs more heat!  Haha-now, how funny is that?  Hmmm...no takers, huh?

We are baking at 102° today!

Now this looks a lot like my yard, but, really it is not.  We've had an outbreak of cats this spring, and, they're about to drive us crazy...NOT that we don't like cats-BUT, they're demanding and they're messing up my gardens!

And, there are kittens involved, so we don't feel comfortable running them off while they are nursing.  We have one mom cat that looks identical to the one in this photo, who has taken on 2 more kittens who lost their mom, and, that makes 5 with her three.  What a compassionate feline!  So, we're trying to help her out.  But, at some point, we must find homes for these sweet creatures!

In the meantime, I'm having to  repair the damage to my flower gardens, and, with this heat, that is not easy to do.  I'm just going to have to sacrifice some of the plantings, until the weather tapers off, and we have some relief.  I came across some tips that I thought we all might be able to use (well, those of us who may be having a cat problem!)  And, along with the heat, I am happy to share them with you, my dearest readers!

TIPS

1.  Dump citrus peels-orange, lemon or lime, into your garden.  The scent should keep cats from exploring.  You'll need to replace the peels as they dry out and lose their scent.

2.  Fill small glass jars, such as baby food jars, with diluted ammonia and bury near the perimeter of your garden. The smell should keep cats at bay, and putting the ammonia in glass jars will keep the liquid from leeching into the soil.

3.  Spread coffee grounds or used tea leaves throughout your garden. The grounds or tea leaves should be evenly spread and they will also help with fertilization. But the scent will keep the cats away.

4.  Mix up black pepper, red pepper and dry mustard in equal parts and spread on the perimeter of your garden.  The smell-and the taste when the cat gets its paw into the mixture and then licks it off, will discourage the cat.

5.  Fill old, clear plastic juice containers with water and place throughout your garden.  In theory, the reflection from the water will keep cats away.

...OR...
you can stick spikes in the ground...SURE-so they can impale themselves!  That would surely do it!  I'm just kidding.  I read that if you spread pine cones throughout the garden, they will deter the cats, because of their sticky, sharp edges.  Also, landscape fabric is a suggestion, because the cats don't want to dig through it...THAT'S BALONEY!  They can and will dig through it...been there!


I don't know about you, but I'm kind of leaning toward the coffee grounds and citrus peel idea.  We've always got an abundance of coffee grounds on hand (my drink of choice), and, we almost always have some lemon and lime peel in residence!  I've been down the red pepper/chili road, and, well it's okay if you water the ground allowing the peppers to stick.  Otherwise, as soon as a strong gust of dry wind comes along, it's gone,  and you're replenishing this expensive method.

Well, if you find something that works, be sure to let me know!

Thank you so much for stopping in, please say hello if you can!  I love hearing from you! You know, I had a lot of grief getting this post on.  As you can see, it's titled Tuesday's Tickle!  Well, needless to say, blogger was acting up on me yesterday evening, and would not save the post properly.  I had to rewrite at least half of it, UGH!  But, even though it is now Wednesday,  I am keeping the title.  I hope each and every one of you have a wonderful evening, or, morning, whichever the case.

Thank You:
Yahoo
Google
http://gardenguides.com
http://ehow.com

This is one tough Cowboy...note the band-aid on his wrist, lol!

See you next time

9 comments:

  1. Hi, Suzanne!

    You wrote:

    << We are baking at 102° today! >>

    Shucks, folks over my way have a name for 102 degrees. We call it a brutal cold snap! (LOL)

    I'm sorry you have a cat problem. I admire you for being patient and trying to help the mother and kittens survive and to find homes for them. I hope you will stick to humane methods of keeping them out of your gardens. I have had stray cats living on my property for the last three or four years. I keep them well fed and watered and provide a cat igloo for them. Oddly, Mrs. Shady and I have never noticed any cats in her flower or vegetable gardens and I'm surprised to learn that they mess up your flowers. I can't imagine why they do that. We occasionally find damage to our veggie gardens but with birds, squirrels, possums, armadillos and raccoon on our land we aren't sure which critters are responsible.

    Is that Scootie? He looks like a mighty tough hombre! Is he wearing that band-aid because he cut himself or is it for show? My granddaughter used to put them all over herself just for the fun of it.

    I hope you have a great evening, dear friend Suzanne, and I'll talk to you again soon!

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  2. Evenin' Podner! Some of the cats have disappeared, so now we're left with one mom only and 3 different litters. The oldest group is wild, you can't touch them, I feel like they will move on eventually. We hope to give the others (5) away while they're still small. So they frolic early morning and early evening as it cools down in the flower beds probably because they are damp. We also have a cat igloo, and, when it was cold, they enjoyed getting in there and huddling.

    Sounds like you do have some critters yourself-raccoon's are very mischievous I hear. We have our share of squirrels who like to plant pecan trees everywhere. We do tolerate them as much as we can.

    Well, that is Scootie, he's on the cowboy kick, and was trying not to laugh in that photo. It cracks me up-they sure can come up with some expressions. He did have a 'booboo' on his wrist, but does enjoy the 'Angry Bird', and 'Diego' band-aids!

    Thank you so much for stopping by Shady, liked your comment about the brutal cold snap! Take care, will see you soon!♫

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  3. LOVE your blog Suzanne!
    The cat picture is great!
    Amd is that Shaun as the cowboy?!?!?!?

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  4. I do not envy you that dreadful heat! Poor mama cat. But you will find homes for the kitties, I'm sure.

    Any hints to keep squirrels away from my hollyhocks?

    Thanks for your comments, Suzanne.

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    Replies
    1. Hi Nancy. Squirrels in your hollyhocks? What in the world do they like in there? I will have to research that one to be sure.

      Are you still in Scotland? I know you have a new post today, will have to stop by. What a wonderful trip...you got lots of great photos.

      Thank you for coming by, I'm so glad to see you! Take care! ♥

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  5. Hi Suzanne, I too have a garden with lots of bright orange peel in various stages of drying out... no, sorry, can't offer any cat deterrents. Have tried them all. I do know for sure that citronella definitely keeps dogs away but cats just laugh at it apparently.

    You've a kind heart caring for the stray cats like that, even when they're messing up your garden.

    Love Scootie's photo - a cutesey-pie that's for sure.

    Sorry to hear about all the heat over there... no thanks we don't want any ;D)

    Have a lovely weekend break... cheerio for now xx

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  6. Good Afternoon Susan, so cats laugh at citronella, eh? I think they laugh a most things. Some of the little kittens are becoming more friendly. Hope we can give them away before they get too big. We don't mind keeping a couple of them, where we can take them to be fixed and we can control things better.

    Scootie is a cute cowboy alright! Thank you so much for coming by and for your comments. Just let me know if you need some of this heat-I hate to go out and water flower beds! Have a great weekend-see you soon!♥

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  7. haha...that first pic is funny!
    as far as the cats & garden problem...i've never had that happen to me. BUT i do have a squirrel problem. they dig...pull plants up...and eat my bromeliads (i think looking for the water that the plants hold). of course since we've been having so much rain lately...they've been leaving the bromeliads alone.

    thanks for offering some of your heat...but we don't need any over this way! thankfully the abundance of rain helps to keep it from scorching! but the humidity....UGH!

    oooooh, cute little cowboy!
    happy sunday! =)

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  8. Hi Laura...happy Sunday! I love Bromeliads, but, I've never tried to raise them outdoors. Don't know how they would do around here. I can't imagine having them outside in this heat-maybe I'll try some to see. The squirrels do get in my flowers too, and dig them up. I can't have hanging baskets in my trees because they did the flowers out and plant pecans in them, it ticks me off! That's why I have asparagus fern and airplane plants growing in the ground, they won't dig them up from the ground.

    We're getting some light rain this morning, hope it keeps up...it's only 75° right now, YAY!

    Thanks for coming over to the garden spot this morning, Laura-it's good to see you!♥

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