With the coming of Spring, so comes the Mosquitoes
 

Just wondering what you all locals think about these Mosquitoes and the West Nile Virus. I get a laugh out of the news sources that say, "don't go out in the evenings and the mornings, for that's feeding time for the mosquitoes" and to "wear long sleeve shirts and pants" etc.. And what with Louisiana being the Sportsman Paradise and all.

Well us here in the Sportsmens Paradise (those with any sense) have had to learn to adapt our ways when out hunting critters. I know ya'll probably did it different back in the day of the cave, but the 'skeeters are vicious. The virus they carry is nasty, anybody can get it, and it has some nasty consequences. Yes, you should wear insect repellant. Yes, wear long pants/sleeves. Yes, be very very careful of these small monsters. On our home we actually installed a system that is set on a timer and it goes off about 4 times a day and sprays a natural insect repellent. It kills the mosquitos, wasps, flies, and the life. Highly recommend it! Don't know how it would work on a cave though.:p :p :p

That is great every four hours PCB's around the house
 

:eek: :eek: :eek: Chemical spray soaking down the area every four hours that sounds very toxic. :nono:

What part of natural insect repellant did you not understand Isaac?! It's actually pyrethrin, the same chemical found in marigolds for instance completely organic and not toxic. Dear hubby would never allow a toxic carcinogen spraying at this house!!!

It doesn't soak anything either. It actually sprays a fine mist for one minute. You can set it to go off more or less, it's whatever you choose. I sure do enjoy being able to sit outside on the patio or in the garden or hang around the pool without being mosquito food.:cool:

If it "kills" bugs and other pest
 

It could not be that good to inhale :cool: Anything that makes spiders leave has got to be hot. What are you growing in your garden ? I think geodude does those Japanese Maples that you are looking for. Check out his group on this site. Good morning :cool:
Isaac

Well I don't go stand underneath it and breath it in. Not that dumbed up yet!!! How's the garden growing? Vegetable garden going in this weekend. We have a one garden area off one side of the home with a water feature, that's what we worked on this weekend. We built the beds and planted part of them. It has ligustrums, gardenias, zinnias, impatiens, hydrangeas (my fav's), camellias, one Japanese maple and looking for another, and some other assorted things I cant recall at the moment.

I have a rose garden close to the pool which I'll dandy up this week a little. It's full of old fashioned roses mostly as in the David Austin varieties. Are you familiar? The next challenge will be that we need to completely redo all the beds across the front of the home. Ughhhhh dreading that challenge. These 40 y/o bones might not be up to it!!!!:D

My garden is in with no pesticides
 

I have a large garden but only a few perennial flowers on the side. I grow tomatoes,okra, peppers and cucumbers and for my girls I grow a bed of sunflowers they like to look at them and I like the cool birds that show up when the seeds are ripe. Yes a tiller of the ground :clap: Any other avatars out there do any gardening ?? Let us hear what you grow :rolleyes:
Isaac

I don't have a garden in my yard, but I do know some about natural pest control. My favorite variety of pest control is carnivorous insects and plants. Certain breeds of spiders work well. A nest of praying mantises will also keep bugs down. I like mantises myself. They are lovely insects and eat tons of prey as some grow to impressive sizes. You can often obtain a small nest attached to a branch at your local nurseries if the time of year is right. Every nest can hatch hundreds of mantises and they eat other bugs like mad!

Carnivorous plants (pitcher plants, venus fly traps, etc.) are just plain fun to watch. If you have enough of them, they can control the pest population quite effectively. Unfortunately, you shouldn't plant them in your yard around here. They require much moisture and cooler temperatures. They work better in-doors and watered frequenty.

Carnivorous plants are typically small and can be grown in a hanging pot of peat moss soil by the dozen. If you have several in a hanging pot in your home, you can also hang a small, dripping container of water over them to keep their top-soil wet.

Anime I kind of liked you until you mentioned spiders! There are a few things in this world that just scare the bejesus out of me and I have no tolerance for them good or bad.... they are.... #1 SNAKES #2 SPIDERS. They have to go, all of them!:D

Awww! You never saw Charolette's Web as a child. :D She was a good spider.

Seriously though, that's understandable. A lot of people dislike that same combination. I don't like snakes or spiders either. However, if I see a spider killing bugs in the yard and I know it isn't the poisonous type that will bite people, I'd leave it there to do its thing. If one got in the house, I'd probably sweep him up and put him outside. Snakes, on the other hand, do have to go.

If spiders and other carnivorous insects didn't exist, other insect populations would be so enormous that you'd wish carnivorous insects did exist.

LOL reminds me of the night, it was raining cats and dogs outside.. It was like 1am and I was sleeping, wife was up, with the back door open, watching T.V... anyways, next thing you know, she's waking me up, hollering "There's a SNAKE in the LIVING ROOM!!" So there I am down stairs with a damn shovel trying to kill this snake. Anyways, I got 'em. LOL And don't get me started about the time there was a BAT in the bedroom !!! LOL

And o.k. all you local snake experts.. what kind of snake is this.. which I found outside my kids window one day.. brought to our attention by a bunch of little birdies all going "TWEET TWEET TWEET!!"

Its best not to kill the non-venomous species, as they are beneficial.

I grow a garden Isaac. I mainly have tomatos but I also grow peppers and cucumbers. This year, I'm trying some egg plants too on a whim. But it's lunker tomatos that I'm after. BLT sandwiches are my trophy.

Rhertz, from the shape of his head I would say that's a bad guy. So off with the head I say!!!! Good riddance. And Al I don't care what you say, even though I love you, there is no such thing as a good snake in my garden if it scares me, ok? Like one year I was weeding my flowers and went to grab a handful and holy mackeral right at my hand was a snake. Boom! He got the shotgun therapy. So back to weeding I go....few minutes later a copperhead slithers by my hand. Well, that one scared me so bad I almost needed CPR! He too got the shotgun therapy. I didn't weed the flowerbeds for about 2 years after that.

I don't mind spiders as long as they are outside. If they are in the house, so long. It's just a thing, a girly thing, but I don't like them. Did I mention all the June bugs out right now are creepy too!!!!!:D

Such a sissy for a country girl
 

So all this time I thought you were so tuff ? Girly girl :laugh: I don't like spiders and snakes :eek: :eek: Get the gun Jed we need to give the treatment to this here critter. Call home boy up to weed the garden I just may faint. :rolleyes: :rolleyes: Boys don't let her fool you she is a powder puff :laugh: :laugh:
Isaac

Yes, LateNight and I were set upon by a junebug plague of biblical proportions over the weekend!

I forgot one snake story...dear husband left his boots on the back porch one night. You know you men can be quite dumb if us women don't remind of stupid things not to do and this was one of those moments!!!!! So next morning he gets up to put them up to go out to feed the horses. Sticks one foot in one and thinks hmmm that feels weird, wonder what got stuck in there. "What does he do?" STICKS HIS HAND IN TO CHECK IT OUT. Well, that felt really weird and spooky, so he turns on the porch light to get a good look. What does he find curled up in his boot? A six foot long king snake!!!!

Good for him it wasn't a bad boy. Those boots sure haven't been left outside again but we are still working on getting the back of those boxers clean!:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:

.....:freaky:....... How about a pet mongoose? :D

I guess you've figured out we live in the sticks, huh? I'm kind of like Zsa Zsa Gabor in Greenacres. Fish out of water, but love it! Our snakes stories at our house are numerous. Most of them happened the first two years we lived here because we only had one dog. In those two years, we had the garden incident, the boot incident, our son got bit, and one massive one in the barn. Since then we've only had one in the wellhouse when the plumber went to turn off the water..he's still recovering from that scare! I really don't see them unless we go fishing down at our pond and you might encounter one sunning himself on the dock or something. But I keep a sharp eye out for them at all times. And now we have six dogs, four horses, and a cat in the barn. Looked everywhere and couldn't find a mongoose!:D

Can't find a mongoose? Get yourself some guineau fowl. :D

That just looks like something about seven dogs would chase around the yard! Once they caught it, then it would be a game of tug of war. Oh it would not be pretty at all!

If your dogs got hold to that guineau fowl
 

It would be a sound you wound never forget. Those birds make more noise than geese do. You might not wait for the dogs you might pick up a shotgun and shoot that little sob. I know I would. Any of those mutts terriers by chance they should take care of things. I do not think that that powder puff Rosie would do much in perimeter control :laugh:
Isaac

The powder puff had herself a squirrel this week. She thought she had the treasure! Now if those terriers (and if you call them mutts again we are going out back. Your spanking won't be like the one Al got!) would do their job and rid my yard of moles, we'd be getting something accomplished. I sure would appreciate any recommendations on mole removal. I have bought some traps this week but I am having a hard time setting them.

Yup, that's true. Guineas make such racket that you might end up killing them yourself. But they do kill bugs and some snakes.

Ol' Taz the wonder dog here has removed ALL the moles from my yard. It's a trip to watch her in action. :)

You dog found some road kill
 

I can not see Rosie running fast enough to catch a squirrel :nono: Now road kill I could see that. Now those traps work and watch your hand. Cover the spot with a board or something to make it dark so the mole will not be afraid to walk into the death trap. You will never get rid of them in the country so get a shotgun and sit in a lawn chair and get ready if the dirt moves shoot it big time. Those biscuit hounds will not be of much help.
Isaac

It was a suicidal squirrel!
 

I tried to get one over on you! Poor Bud, yes I named the squirrel who steals the bird food, committed suicide on our power line Monday. He blew a breaker in the process and knocked out our power and the neighbors. Then had to suffer a horrible after life...getting fought over by the Kuvasz and Siberian Husky. I'm not sure of his current fate but there are no longer any signs of his existence.

Now I am willing to try the mole removal dog if she'd like to stay a day or two in the woods!!! That would probably be most entertaining to watch! In the meantime though I am going to try and set the traps this evening and see if we can capture more fun for Rosie.

Did I mention that Rosie is so smart she goes to school?

Not really, today is obediance school at Petsmart. I bet your wife would sure like to send you there Isaac!!!!!! Put you in a harness and leash and teach you how to behave.

Did I mention that is not possible ?
 

Well I have now :laugh: but I am gald to see you and your dog are being trained in obediance :laugh: Who gets to hold the leash :rolleyes: The great white powder puff. Maybe lick you to death but watch dog only watching the food bowl and sleeping :laugh: Tbelle do you know any new tricks :clap: good girl !
Isaac

I have learned to sit and stay:D while the Rosie wanders around.:clap:

Lesson learned: Never buy a strong willed dog!

Lesson learned: Never buy a strong willed bitch dog!
 

They are hard to tame :laugh: Always wanting to do things their way or no way at all.
Isaac
Please do something about that avatar it scares me :eek: :eek: :eek:
Isaac

It is no worse than that Lion mouth coming at me constantly. Of course we can get you some therapy for this fear of small dogs. I have some recommendations!

Well, Well, Well. Looks like I missed alot while I was out. Sounds like if lay with dogs you might end up with the fleas, or mosquito bites. Look out Isaac, I think Judas is around!

My mother is afraid of dogs too. She has been terrified of them since she was little and a large poodle bit her across the face.

There was one amusing little incident that happened in FL several years ago. She and I were browsing through pawn shops looking for a VCR. We go walking into one shop and she approached the glass counter and starts glancing through it. She sees the reflection of someone approach from the other side of the counter. She looks up and is face-to-face with a HUGE great dane (belonging to the owner, no doubt) that was standing on its back legs with its front legs propped on the counter. My mother moon-walks out of the store and never went back. :p

Neo, go get back in your chair and work. No Judas here, just being nice. Try it, you'll like it.

What makes you think I was referring to you as the Judas, or are looking for the attention.

Tbelle, I'm always in my chair, I call it the King's Throne. Don't be mean because you have to look up the tree.

P.S. ask sir Isaac about looking up the tree....:peace:

Let me tell you young Neo
 

You know the golden rule and you come from a tree yourself so be careful how you point that finger. Bones, bones, bones we all have bones :laugh: I would hate to see Tinker get the best of a young boy like you but my bet is still on Neo because you have a great advantage in age so be nice to her she is no spring chick anymore. :rolleyes:
Isaac

Oh, Neo it's not hard to read a simple mind. The tree? Be careful where you are barking? I know the Golden Rule! Very wise to it. I bet your butt is sore from kicking yourself. It's hard to know that you can look but not touch, isn't it?

NEVER underestimate the "ONE" Neo
 

Oh Tinker don't dare the ONE he has been unplugged and could deal you some pain so all bets are off when it comes to the ONE. You really need to watch the Matrix one time it would help you when it comes to Neo. You did say you were going to scorpion kick his ass but he sounds like he has you by the belle:laugh: :laugh: :laugh:
Isaac