If you have not done so already, I strongly suggest that you take a look at the Consumer World website.  In addition to looking through the website, you should sign up for their newsletter.

Consumer World has a fountain of information that everyone who buys anything should be aware of.  As a result of a link from their site, I recently read an article on how Purina Dog Food reduced the size of their dog food bag from 20 pounds to 18 pounds.  The price?  Well of course the price remained the same.

The folks at Mouse Print attempted on more than one occasion to get an explanation from Purina as to the reason for the downsized portions.  Rather than re-word their findings, check it out for yourself.

Lots of Info

No need for me to say anymore.  Check them out and check out the sites they link to.  If you’re like me, you’ll bookmark the Consumer World as a valuable resource.

I love nature just as much as the next person but there are a few things that really work my nerves. The insatiable hosta munching deer is one of them, second only to flower box and yard destroying squirrel.

Hair

There are several ways to deter deer from eating your plants (they seem to love hostas). There are store bought deer repellents, but I prefer to use a natural deterrent. A friend of mine uses hair. She takes hair from her brush and spreads it around her plants, sort of like decorating a Christmas tree. I guess the individual’s scent is enough to deter the deer from eating the plants.

That works well as long as weather conditions leave the hair in place. A few windy rainy days means re-decorating the plants with more hair.

The Deterrent that Every House Has Plenty Of

If hair is a scarce commodity in your home like it is in ours (we keep our hair very short), you might have to choose another method. Just like with hair, I’m using a substance that is plentiful. As a matter of fact, I’m 100% sure that every household has this commodity and it’s 100% natural. Deer don’t like urine. Yep, every day ordinary pee.

Last year we didn’t have a deer problem because we allowed Fido to pee wherever he chose; the front yard, side yard or back yard. It didn’t make a difference as long as it wasn’t in the house. It was a wonderful natural deer deterrent.

The upside is that the deer didn’t eat the hosta plants; the downside is that the yard looked like it was a battleground for a serious intergalactic conflict. The dog pee created a plethora of burn spots in the grass.

This year we decided to improve the looks of the lawn and trained Fido to pee in one spot. Our lawn has improved, but the deer have decided to return. So, keeping with the urine theory, we decided to sprinkle urine on the plants.

Outfit the Bathroom

Wait, it’s not as gross as it sounds. All you have to do is keep paper cups in the bathroom. Once every few days, fill one of the cups and sprinkle the urine over the outdoor plants. It will deter the deer.

The only downside is that the urine gets washed away every time it rains so you’ll need to ‘pee’ on your plants after a good soaking. For some reason kids love this deer repellent method…go figure.

Word of warning, do not store urine. Urine has a tendency to develop muscles over time and you may not be strong enough to be able to withstand the odor. Urine is an abundant commodity. Why not put it to good use?

It looks like pepper works. In my last post I ranted a bit about squirrels reeking havoc with my plants so I peppered them (the plants, not the squirrels).

This morning, I was hard at work on my laptop and I happened to look up and I saw my archenemy, the squirrel stalking (in that predatory manor that they have when they see a flower box to demolish), towards my flower box. I almost jumped up to get the broom to shoo it away, but I remembered the pepper.

I watched it as it approached the first flower box. The squirrel looked in the dirt, appeared to sniff around a little, then it walked thorough the flower box along the deck railing until it came to the second flowerbox. The squirrel repeated the same behavior. It sniffed, stood there for a while then turned around and slowly retraced its steps.

I’m not sure what the squirrel was thinking, but it sure seemed to be deep in thought. It slowly walked then stopped. It spied other plants I had on the deck. (Darn!!! I didn’t pepper all of the plants, I missed one or two of the smaller ones). I knew for certain this flower box demolisher was going to destroy the two small pepperless flowerpots.

I started to creep towards the broom closet. I knew I was going to have to shoo it away.

The squirrel stood there moving its little head from side to side with its nose in the air. It seemed to try to detect which pots had pepper and which ones didn’t. I don’t think the squirrel could tell. I guess it’s a good thing that I just about emptied an entire can of pepper in the plants.

It could be my imagination, but I thought I detected a look of defeat on the squirrels face. I mean, those little beady eyes lowered, the body posture seemed a little less defiant, and the flower box destroyer walked away.

Whooo hooo! Score one for mom!!!