BLULOW (All About Living Green)

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!!!

I’m so annoyed with those tiny four-legged garden destroyers that I’m about to scream!

They chew up the lawn, they overturn all of my flowers and they constantly toss the dirt out of my flower boxes.  I caught one squirrel mid dirt toss and I sprayed it with the water hose.  The little bugger took off, and I was left with mud all over the deck.

I’ve read that squirrels don’t like pepper, cayenne or bitter substances.  I guess their palate can’t stand the spicy stuff.  I’m not sure if it works, but I pretty much emptied a can of black pepper in two of my flower boxes.  Hopefully I wont go into sneezing fits every time I play with my flowers.

Although squirrels may look cute, they’re really a gardener’s nuisances.  If you’ve had any luck in deterring squirrels from chewing through your garden, please share your remedy.  I’m just about a wits end.

I keep saying that living green isn’t always easy, but it doesn’t have to be this frustrating.

For pet owners who don’t compost, maybe you should consider recycling your fruit and vegetable peels for your dog.

The other day I was making a batch of carrot, apple, and raisin salad (the only way I can get a vegetable into my daughter). I used untold amounts of organic carrots. After thoroughly washing the carrots, I peeled off the outer skin and proceeded to make the salad.

I looked at the heap of perfectly healthy carrot skins and decided to recycle them by running the skins through the food processor so that I could mix some in with the dog’s food. Fido, being the dog that he is, thought he was having an early Thanksgiving meal. He lapped it up looking for more.

There was such a large amount of carrot skin that I put some of the chopped carrots in the freezer for a later date and some in the fridge for tomorrow’s meal.

Fido was happy and so was I. So, before you throw away certain fruit and vegetable skins, think about recycling them to mix it in your dog’s food. Recycling your peals not only helps to stretch a bag of dog food, but the fruits and vegetables are healthy for your dog and dogs love it.

Word of Caution:

Give Fido a little at a time. Their short digestive tracts can wreak havoc in your household if the food upsets their stomach.

We are so accustomed to adding a cleaning additive to our water in order to clean anything. Have you ever tried cleaning your windows with just water first?

Just for grins, fill a spray bottle with water. Use it to clean your windows before you attempt to use a cleaning additive (even if the additive is vinegar). You’ll be pleasantly surprised that water can take care of most ordinary dirt on windows.

Of course, there are times when water just won’t cut it. Then you can escalate your cleaning efforts by adding vinegar.

I found out several years ago as the owner of a dog who, for one reason or the other, liked to lick our sliding glass door windows. For the life of me I couldn’t figure this little quirk out. Anyway, I couldn’t use the usual window cleaner for fear of poisoning my beautifully odd pup.

I took water, put it on a paper towel and cleaned the windows. I was surprised that it did a great job. The long and the short of it is, try water first. Oh, and the pup…he gave up licking windows. Now he just chews anything that is within his reach.

I’m not quite sure, but the Bio Bag might be the solution to one of my composting problems.

If you’ve read any of the earlier posts on this blog you’ll know that I’m a proponent of composting, but have a few logistical issues to iron out. One such issue is collecting all of the lovely household waste.

I used to collect the waste in a lidded container. When it got full, I’d cart it out to the compost bin, open the lid and dump it out. The problem was I would get dizzy from holding my breath in an attempt to avoid the less than aromatic odor that opening the lid would release. Even the dog had to back up a tad when I opened the lid (this from the mutt who sleeps with his nose on his derriere).

Reading about the biodegradable bags raised a glimmer of hope. These bags are perfect for holding compostable household and yard waste. The beauty of Bio Bags is that once you fill it up, you don’t have to open it to dump the contents. The bag is biodegradable and will decompose on its own. What a great concept (Download their technical specs).

Bio Bags come in various sizes ranging from 2 gallons, 13 gallons to 33 gallons (with a few additional sizes in between). They even have kitty pan liner bio bags and doggie pick up the poop bio bags (not the technical name, but you understand what each bio bag does).

I’m starting small. I ordered the 3 gallon size bags. If they do well, maybe I’ll get the larger ones. After all living green is about making one small green step at a time. Today is a 3 gallon step…tomorrow who knows…