Month: December 2022

Deer upgrade

On By CarynIn Craft

Last year’s purchase of a pre-made pre-lit deer decoration has gone through a series of changes at my house. I liked him standing in my meadow so much, I took off his festive holiday bow so he could stay there all through spring and summer. He moved to the back woods when it was time for the ghost to come out, but you could still see him through the branches which was neat. In early December, I stripped out all the old LED light strings and instead set up a LED wave light in front of him set to a multi-hued pattern. The light does a much better job showing of his iridescent trappings, and looks stunning in the full dark.

Deer decoration lit by a wave light

Getting better

On By CarynIn Craft, Life Hack

When I tried to assemble gingerbread houses last year for my kids, it was a struggle to get the sides and roof to stay up until the frosting set. This year, they went together much easier. I did actually get out the big knife and trimmed the side walls square, this time. My youngest also helped stabilize as we built. Life lessons: live and learn, follow directions, and accept help.

Gingerbread houses assembled and drying before decorating

Acorn float test

On By CarynIn Flora, Wildlife

In reading more about acorn weevils, I stumbled across a float test for acorns. If the acorn floats, it most likely has been inhabited by a grub, because the grub eats the nut meat and lessens the acorn density. I took a handful of carefully selected acorns, that I believed were grub free, and put them in a cup of water.

Acorn float test

Half of my acorns floated. I broke one of the floating ones open, and sure enough, there was a grub inside. Hm. I also read that squirrels will leave the grub infested nuts, so when humans are searching the ground it will seem like the weevil infestation is total, but really the whole nuts have already been found and buried. Learn something new everyday.

Visitor’s parlor

On By CarynIn Cats
Mr Tom visiting

Oh for crying in the mud. I looked at the picture I took of Mr Tom (my neighbor’s cat) lounging on the table and realized I have a cat parlor. I put out a heated water bowl, but the cord was too short to reach the ground, so I put the bowl on a table. The winterized cat house that I made for Sophie wasn’t being used (she has moved into the house), so I put it behind the coop. (It still isn’t being used, I think because it only has one entrance.) There is a bowl for snacks even. Sheesh. I don’t leave food out, just water. Sophie does visit the area when she is outside, and other neighbor cats visit as well. Apparently I’m running a cat tavern. Hm.

Spiders in the coop

On By CarynIn Coop, Wildlife
Night picture from coop camera

An industrious spider built a web in front of the coop camera. Although it looks vertical in the picture, the actual web was horizontal, stretched from under the camera to the cable tie end shown in the picture. Unfortunately, when I rotated the camera, the web broke. I generally leave spiders alone in the coop. They provide valuable insect control, especially of the flying type, without toxic chemicals (unless you count the spider bite). The successful arachnids are in the upper part of the coop, since chickens are keen on devouring spiders. Extra protein. A few times a year I do sweep out the old webs that are full of dust to make room for new webs.