Porcupine Adventures

The cute little porcupine WAS living under our deck and continued to do so for over a week. It would venture out every day and nibble on the bark of the various trees growing around the deck. It sampled the dried berries in the chokecherry tree, but seemed to prefer the bark of the plum as it kept going back there. It climbed up the Mountain Ash one time, but after looking at the huge clumps of berries, it climbed down again without sampling them and went back to my poor plum tree.

I was concerned not only about the damage to the trees and also the possible damage to the cats or the dog if they got close to it.  I really wanted to get rid of this little creature, but didn't want to harm it in the process. How was I going to persuade it to move on to a new location? The dog wasn't much help as she had learned the hard way not to get close to porcupines ( thankfully) and the porcupine just ignored her presence. It was only a matter of a foot or two for it to get from under the deck to some of these trees; easy to avoid the dog.

When I caught it red handed eating more of the bark off my plum tree, I tried shaking the plum tree to get it down. At first it ignored me, but then finally it slowly climbed down and, yes, headed through the snow, right back under the deck stairs again.

The next day I went to the hardware store in town looking for something called "Critter Ridder",  a product that smells like fox urine and is supposed to scare the porcupine into leaving. (Foxes are supposedly one of the only animals a porcupine is afraid of.) But the hardware store had none. One of the clerks at the store told me to try water the next time I saw the little critter in my trees. She said porcupines hate water.

Sure enough, the little guy was back in his / my favorite plum tree munching away when I got home so I decided to try the water treatment. I got a large bucket full of water and used a cup to throw the water on the porcupine. It just turned its back to me and raised it's hair and little quills, ready to do battle. After 2/3 of the water was gone out of the pail and the porcupine was still in the tree but dripping wet, I gave up on that idea. I went around the tree to its cute little face and tried yelling at it, but that had no effect either.

Later when I looked out the window, the porcupine was still in the exact same position and I wondered if it was frozen to the tree with all the water I had thrown at it!

I tried calling the county office to see if they had an animal trap I could borrow. Borrow? Nothing! They wanted a $50 deposit on a skunk cage, the only thing they had. But the guy at the other end of the line thought that if it was a small porcupine, the trap might work.  His concern was, though, how do we get it OUT of the trap?  Then he had a brilliant idea. Use a fishing net to catch it  as porcupines are rather slow moving. Then take it 1 or 2 miles away to a new location. He never did say how to get it OUT of the net once we found a new spot, though...

The other suggestion was to phone the Fish and Wildlife office and get them to lend us a scare cannon, something that sounds like a gun shot that goes off every few minutes. Couldn't quite see myself putting up with that under the deck for very long!  I would probably have to leave myself!

When my husband came home from work, he was not pleased to see that his efforts at protecting the plum trees with the wire fencing had not stopped the porcupine from climbing back up there.  It was still sitting in the same tree finishing off the rest of the bark. It must have been a tasty plum tree!  He shook the tree violently and used a spade to try and dislodge the little guy. He was hoping to scoop it up in the shovel and somehow shovel it down our long driveway, then across the road into the large stand of trees there. (Couldn't see this working even as well as the fishing net idea...)

The porcupine had other ideas! It finally got tired of hanging on for dear life, so it dropped to the snow below the tree, and QUICKLY (so much for them being slow moving,) dug a hole and disappeared.... under the deck stairs.   I think, though, that this last incident must have had an effect on it's porcupine brain, because the next day, it wasn't hanging around anymore.  I noticed tracks in the snow at the far end of the yard right by the tree line going off into the underbrush.  Either it is fed up with all the interruptions during its dinner hours, or quite full of plum bark and looking for a change in its diet.  Whatever the reason, I hope it find a comfortable home elsewhere with plenty of food in a safe environment.

Juniper Wreath Creations and Porcupine invasions

Not much happening in the gardening department anymore...  A bit more clean up, that's about it.
We vigorously clipped our huge juniper bush as it has grown so large, it was making it difficult to walk down the steps beside the rock garden. What to do with the multitude of clipped branches?

I found my wire wreath frame in the shed and got out the horticultural wire, then proceeded to wire some of the branches to the frame. I have discovered the hard way that I need to wear gloves for this procedure. In the past I had come away with an itchy rash on both wrists where the juniper branches have touched my skin. I had no idea until then that I was allergic to the resin in the juniper branches. But they make such a beautiful wreath that I can't stop using them.

Some of the branches have beautiful small blue berries on them so I tried to use as many of those as I could... ( I have no idea if the berries are edible by any sort of wildlife, bird, mammal or insect.  They look very attractive, if nothing else.)  I also tied 3 branches together in sort of a Juniper bough and will put a Christmas ribbon around one end, then hang it on one of the posts of the deck. Next I have to sort out the wreath decorations and put some of them on the juniper wreath, and then it will be ready to hang up by the front door.

I googled 'Juniper berries' and discovered that Juniper Berries are used in Northern Europe and the United States in marinades, roast pork, and sauerkraut. They are used to enhance meat, stuffings, sausages, stews, and soups. Who knew!


 We recently had a young porcupine wandering through our yard again. I had surprised it on the deck a few nights before, when I went to let the dog out. It was lurking around the dog's water bowl next to the pump, but made a quick exit, 'stage left' when it heard me.  The dog was curious at the time, but stayed a safe distance away from it.

A few days later the porcupine was back and this time the dog herded it up towards the deck, right by the Juniper shrub.  I was surprised to see a small porcupine standing motionless with its nose touching the bottom of deck railing and it's little tail towards the dog's direction, right near where I was standing! It had hardly any quills on it's back, only what appeared to be long bushy looking hair, but it did have 6 or 8 short little quills on its tail.

I read recently that porcupines don't 'shoot' their quills, but rather whack the offending predator with their tail, impaling them with the quills.  Then it takes 10 days to 3 months for the quills to grow back.
I quickly called the dog and brought her in the house! She has been zapped by porcupines twice already, once the first fall we were here and then again the very next spring, resulting in 34 quills embedded in her chest and legs the first time and 52 in her muzzle, neck, legs and chest the second time. My husband and I yanked them out with pliers both times, he wielding the pliers and I sitting next to the dog and with my arms wrapped around her to hold her still and give her needed sympathy. Luckily none of them resulted in any infection, but I'm sure the dog was in some pain and discomfort both times.  Since then she has learned to keep her distance from porcupines, even when they invade our yard, her territory. Smart dog!

Even dried flowers and plants have a certain beauty!

Now I'm starting to wonder if  the porcupine is residing under our deck!    That would certainly explain the chewed off bark on my plum trees!  (And does it eat Juniper berries?!) I did spray the plum branches generously after that with an animal repellent just in case. So far we have had no precipitation to wash the spray off, but that should be happening in the next few days according to our weather forecast.  I guess that means I will have to get out the Plantskydd powder once more and mix up another batch to spray on the trees and shrubs.

Dried 'bunny tails'  ligularis Ovatis

Harley, enjoying the sunshine

Plantskydd is supposed to work for at least 3 months no matter what the weather.  I'd better spray my 3 little spruce trees behind the house as well. I noticed that something has been nibbling on them and I suspect it's the deer. We did put some wire fencing around them, but we ran short and one of the tiny spruces is still quite exposed.

Lexy surveying her domain

I know if I tell people about porcupines in the yard, they usually say something like, "You should get a 22 and shoot it. Porcupines are a nuisance."
I don't understand that kind of thinking.  I could never do that. We bought this place out here at the lake because of the wilderness around here. So how can a person complain if you have exactly what you paid for right outside your door?!  I noticed today that it is leaving the plum trees alone (for now, anyway) and is eating the bark off some of the wild saskatoon and chokecherry saplings nearby. And as long as the dog and the cats aren't in danger, I'm going to let it be.

Spirit

(Another porcupine on the deck again a while ago. They are after the water in the dog's bowl over by the pump. It is mostly frozen, but partially melts during the day. It rained a bit this evening which may turn to snow over night. I suspect that once we have snow on the ground, the porcupines and other wild creatures would eat snow to get their fluids?  Maybe I should remove the bowl anyway, just to deter them from coming around.... )

Ducks and Geese on the Lake

I saw the strangest sight a few days ago, one of those odd things you don't often get the chance to see.  I was taking the dog for a walk to the lake late in the afternoon and trailing us, as often is the case, was two of our cats, Milo and Harley. As we got close to the lake I could hear a cacaphony of squawking and honking. As we emerged from the trees onto the beach, I saw what was happening. The temperature had dropped the night before and the lake had frozen over. A multitude of geese and ducks were standing on the lake in long rows in about an inch of water!  The sun was starting to set and the sight was so unusual.

Even Harley and Milo thought something was odd. Both cats walked out onto the ice to investigate, where the day before the waves had been lapping and their feet had been getting wet.

'I wish I had my camera,' I thought to myself!
Should I stay and enjoy the sight a while longer or do I have time to run back down the path to the house for the camera to save this sight for posterity??? I was torn! Should I leave the cats alone on the shore (which I have never down before, having always coaxed them to follow me when I head for home)?

' YES'! I thought! 'But I have to hurry before the sun goes down and I lose the light!'

 So I RAN as fast as I could back up the path. Milo our swift little 6 month old kitty wasn't going to be left behind and he raced after me. Harley, our adventurous little 4 year old soon followed. I raced up the hill towards the house, huffing and puffing, and ran up the back steps with Milo in close pursuit.  I literally threw Milo into the kitchen, then grabbed the camera off the counter and ran out the door, back down the path towards the lake.  The dog was jumping straight up in the air in delight at this point! (WOW! Another walk already!?) And she eagerly raced after me.

'Are the birds still going to be there or will they have come to their senses and left', I wondered as I ran.

I arrived back on the beach in short order and saw the geese and ducks were still there!  I slowly walked across the beach in their direction and took several photos of them, propping my elbows on one of the picnic tables there to try and get a clear shot.

Here are the results:

Photo taken from Shore

Zoomed in photo from shore

Now the geese are starting to leave ( I think my dog on shore was making them nervous.)

           Last minute accommodation adjustments before sunset...