November 2018 Chat

[shades]

[jolovespiggies]

thank you shades hunni, i hope everyone has a happy November.

[3piggles]

Ooh, excellent welcome to November, Shades Thank you

We don't get trick or treaters here, but my daughter posted pictures of our granddaughter in her costume, heading out to Trick or Treat around her area. I think they do several areas, as their town has a downtown trick or treating where the stores give out candy, and then they do the relatives, who live in different towns. All around good time for all of them

Cold and rainy 11/1, and not much sunshine until Sunday, but that's fine. We've got indoor projects to do, so we'll keep busy

Have a great November, everyone

[jolovespiggies]

we don't get trick or treaters here either hunni as these were originally old peoples' bungalows and they used to get frightened. cold here today too.

hugs jo

[3piggles]

Day 3 of rain. Warmer, if you call a rainy 50F warm. Supposed to get up to almost 70F in Boston, today. Right now I'll settle for any temp, if it would just stop raining. Pretty much rain for the next 10 days, with breaks, but not clearing out for very long at a time. Stay dry and warm

One of our little red squirrels got into the peanut feeder today, and got trapped in there. Hubby took some pictures. I posted one in Show Your Life In Pictures. Poor thing took off with a mighty leap, when hubby opened the hatch. Must have seemed like such a great thing, until he couldn't get out. One of the bigger grey squirrels ate all around him, outside. Must have seemed really weird to be stuck in there.

[jolovespiggies]

poor little chap. i am looking forward to seeing the photos. i am afraid i am not so fond of grey squirrels, they are nasty.

hugs jo xxx

[3piggles]

With the exception of snakes, which scare the stuffing out of me, I just love animals. I know there are a lot of grey squirrels, but I think they all deserve a chance to survive, and I'm not going to put out food they like, and keep them away from it so the birds can have it. That's why I always have a squirrel feeding station a bit away from the bird feeders, with bigger food the squirrels, jays and crows like. Between the two feeding areas, there's enough food dropped on the ground to keep the ground feeders busy, so our backyard is a busy place, once we put out the feeders in the fall

Jo, it was the grey squirrel that used to come to the door at the last house, and look in, uses to sleep on top of the gas grill(it had dark brown cover, and it think it absorbed the sun's heat, so was a warm place to sleep). The chipmunks may have gone into hibernation, as I haven't seen them out at the feeders for a while, at least a couple of weeks.

We're going to cut open the pumpkins we have on the steps for Halloween, and put those out for the animals to eat, too. Might even get a moose with a pumpkin

I do draw the line at putting out foods that attract bear, deer, and other animals that will come through once the feeders are all put away in the spring, and out the garden plants, or destroy things. It's not that they don't deserve to eat, but they're just too destructive up this close to a house. If we owned the acreage we had a couple of houses ago, we'd put out food for them, which we did when we lived there. We put bales of hay, salt licks and things like baskets of apples that were past their prime, out in the woods for those critters.

[jolovespiggies]

i do love grey squirrels piggles hunni it is just that they were blamed for killing all the red ones here in the UK. i think they may be coming back though. i know bears can be a pest, upsetting peoples' bins etc lol.

hugs jo xx

[3piggles]

I think, because grey squirrels tend to be really plentiful, they get blamed for everything. Watching Little Red take on the grey squirrel, Little Red wasn't backing down. There are definitely much fewer red squirrels than grey, here, so I understand why people might think grey squirrels drove out the red. If anything, red get eaten by predators much more often than grey, which accounts for the different numbers.

[Bean]

I think fewer people here would have an issue with grey squirrels if they hadn't pretty much taken over the territories of the red ones (there are numerous reasons they're more successful here - they're more resistant to disease, more efficient foragers and also tend to breed better). I like both and wish we still had both, but there are only a few areas of the country where you find red squirrels now, and that's only because they're protected by the grey squirrels being culled.

We're just back from a week in Madeira where it's still about 20c and with a respectable amount of sunshine. But we're back to grey skies, rain and high winds now!

[jolovespiggies]

I like to have both around and I am glad little red one didn't back down. you are right bean sweetie, the grey ones did totally take over here but I think the reds may be coming back.

hugs jo xx

[Bean]

I'd like it if they did, Jo, they're such pretty things and I'd hate to lose them.

[3piggles]

We seem to have 2 red squirrels. Not being able to tell them apart, we call them both Little Red. They are scrappers, that's for sure. I don't recall seeing them until a few years ago, don't know if they're returning or expanding. We've also had a record number of grey squirrels recently. Food has been really abundant, so for the red squirrels to be here with an extreme number of greys is great. I do love the diversity.

I hope you had a great vacation. Sorry the weather is yucky back home!

[jolovespiggies]

i would love my own garden where i could leave food out for the squirrels. unless the food was in a feeder though, the seagulls would have a banquet lol. i often wonder how they tell each other apart piggles love but it is all about smell with little animals isn't it? everything crossed for their return.

hugs jo xx

[3piggles]

It snowed today. More blowing by on the wind from the cold front that cleared out the rain. Not even a coating on grass, but fun to watch Temps below freezing again, and dry, at least for a day. Refreshing, and hopefully worth a good night's sleep.

[Bean]

Snow! Pretty, even if it doesn't settle. And I'm glad it's given you the cooling effect you enjoy.

I need to have a rake (or get the kids to do it!) in the garden as we have loads of fallen leaves. We bag them up to mulch and they'll give the garden a good feed in a couple of years.

[jolovespiggies]

I love the snow but it never falls here at the right time - Christmas lol.

hugs jo xx

[Bean]

I don't mind snow on Christmas day itself, but can it arrive that morning and go by the next day please? We have driving to do!

Anyway, how are we talking about Christmas again?! I walk right into it every time...!

[bazookagoof]

Nov 11, 2018 15:49:32 GMT Bean said:

Anyway, how are we talking about Christmas again?! I walk right into it every time...!

[3piggles]

Also have this one for people who put out the decorations too early


I just love snow. We go from green, lush and everything budding in the Spring, to summer flowers, to Fall foliage, to bare, barren trees and dead, brown lawns in November. By the time the first snow covers the ground, I'm more than ready to see all that dead stuff covered by a blanket of clean, white snow. It also shows the animal prints, so I can easily tell who's come through the year overnight, which is always fun to check on in the morning.

Yes, it means snow blowing the drive and walks, ours and our neighbors, as we get to park in their carport. If it gets warmer than really cold, enough snow melts to make walking around the back yard to fill the feeders a bit treacherous, but hubby puts down sand to help with the traction, and it's usually okay.

Bitterly cold temps with wind are not fun, but now that we are retired, we can just stay home where it's nice and warm, until the weather gets nicer. February and March are the worst months. Otherwise we usually just get snow, without getting arctic blasts, or the January thaw, when it can get into summer temps for a short period.

We still have leaves on the trees, so I'm okay with not getting any snow cover quite yet

Bean, I do not miss raking leaves, but we have a mulching lawn mower, so hubby just mows them and leaves them on the grass. With all the snow and rain, they'll be mulch for the grass by Spring.