Friday, August 12, 2011

Ungrateful wretches!

Chipmunks, who needs 'em?  Not me, that is for sure.  One is a little cute, but now we have way too many.  They are destructive little  brats.  I let them eat the dropped bird seeds that the selective birds pull out of the feeder while they are looking for the perfect sunflower seed,  and that is not enough!  They jump from pillar to post to get to the feeder and just sit there filling their cheek pouches.  They look like a 'munk with the mumps when they are finished.  Then they start on the bulbs.  I have planted many bulbs here over the years, and at first it was only the adorable bunnies that gnawed on the bulbs.  But then, the chipmunks realized that there were bulbs in "them thar" flower beds.  They dug them up, chewed on them, leaving a big mess and no soon-to-be-flowers for me.
But, they have made their final assault, this means war.
In a previous post: DuBois flowers I told you all about the special plants/bulbs that I found and planted in memory of Matka.  I watered them in the spring and summer drought times, a few times I had to "tuck" them back into the soil and under the mulch because they were "toyed" with, but they were still doing good.
BUT, last week my SHusband told me that I better look at Matka's tree and the plants.  Well, I'll be a (deleted).  Not only did the chipmunks dig up the bulbs, but they ate them, and then to celebrate, they dug a tunnel to China in the middle of the area where the tree is planted.  SH said I better do something about that to keep air from getting to the tree roots and killing it.  Are you kidding me? Those guys ate the bulbs and put the tree at risk!!
So, I went out with all my tools and went to war.  I filled in the hole, put a rock on top, redistributed the dirt and the mulch and made it look nice..........and I added a package of mouse poison.
I have not seen less chipmunks, but the area has not been messed up, except for the wee tunnel dug ........................
I hate Chipmunks.
And to push me just a little bit more, yesterday morning they left a half eaten bulb on the front step.  That was my "horse's head in the bed", I tell you.
Next step-put red Cayenne pepper in the bird seed-they say make the food source bad, and they will go away.  I tried this before with squirrels, and it worked, so lets hope that what is good for one rodent is good for another!
p.s. don't tell St. Francis of Assisi, the patron Saint of Animals on me.  I will have to ask St. Fiacre, the Patron Saint of Gardens to side with me.
Read all about him here:
St. Fiacre
He was a nice Irish boy who had a killer skill with a spade.  His Feast day is August 30th.  I better be out working in the gardens if I expect him to help me.

1 comment:

sally said...

I am going to animal killer hell! As I was emptying the garbage tonight, there was a dead chipmunk at the bottom of the front steps! He must have dragged his little self there to be sure I saw what I did. Mea culpa, mea culpa. Maybe more tomorrow? Stop it Sally.