| Guest Post by Black Bear [message #28589] |
Wed, 21 April 2010 19:26  |
 b_twin_1
Messages: 2594
Registered: September 2008
Location: Victoria, Australia |
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Tulips
I've got a plan so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel ~ Blackadder
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| Re: Guest Post by Black Bear [message #28591 is a reply to message #28589 ] |
Wed, 21 April 2010 19:35  |
b_twin_1
Messages: 2594
Registered: September 2008
Location: Victoria, Australia |
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*gasps for air*
ROFL
*wipes tears from eyes*
Thank you for sharing that! (similar to my experiences with Blackbirds and Rabbits... )
I've got a plan so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel ~ Blackadder
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| Re: Guest Post by Black Bear [message #28592 is a reply to message #28589 ] |
Wed, 21 April 2010 19:39 |
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OMC.
Seriously, I laughed, but you might consider sleeping with one eye open...or be sleepin' with the fishes.
Just give them the sunflower seeds. It's not worth your life.
Smooshes!
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| Re: Guest Post by Black Bear [message #28599 is a reply to message #28589 ] |
Wed, 21 April 2010 20:28 |
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oh man i am still laughing. great post.
Bonnie Holmes the faster ahead I go, the more behind I get
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| Re: Guest Post by Black Bear [message #28606 is a reply to message #28589 ] |
Wed, 21 April 2010 22:39 |
sixpence
Messages: 49
Registered: August 2009 |
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Friends who did research in the Adirondacks told me that they had gotten back to their car after a long day in the field to find that the squirrels had CHEWED through the wiring in the car.
Your furry mafia may be plotting something similar. After another friend had to do expensive repairs to her attic which had been colonised by gray squirrels, I concluded that the only good squirrel was stew ... and perhaps a coat!
sixpence
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| Re: Guest Post by Black Bear [message #28609 is a reply to message #28589 ] |
Wed, 21 April 2010 23:29 |
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blondviolinist
Messages: 1069
Registered: October 2008
Location: Midwestern United States |
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Not only does she have a great deal to say, she says it very well and interestingly, to the point that I have found myself awake at 1 am on a weeknight doing further research on roses, which I don’t grow, sighthounds, which I don’t own, and bell ringing, which I don’t remotely understand. That’s a pretty darn good blog, to my way of thinking. Or so I keep telling her.
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I came home from the store the other day with peppermint tea, a bar of Green & Black's, and a new pink memory stick. (Buying the memory stick was perfectly normal... buying a pink one was not.) I looked at my shopping haul, and decided that I must be spending too much time reading Robin's blog  (I have no intention of mending my ways.)
Speaking of evil squirrels, I once had a squirrel try to run off with an entire apple from my lunch...
"Purity of heart is to will one thing." Kirkegaard
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| Re: Guest Post by Black Bear [message #28610 is a reply to message #28589 ] |
Wed, 21 April 2010 23:41 |
Ithilien
Messages: 702
Registered: September 2008 |
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Oh, that's fabulous! And we'll hold you a proper wake if you run afoul of the protection racket!
[Updated on: Wed, 21 April 2010 23:44]
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| Re: Guest Post by Black Bear [message #28612 is a reply to message #28589 ] |
Thu, 22 April 2010 01:24 |
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Lynn Abbey has a good tail (oops, Freudian slip, I mean tale) about squirrels (and certain supernatural characters) for sale as an e-short-story on Closed Circle*. Second item on this page.
*100% of income at this site goes directly to the authors.
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| Re: Guest Post by Black Bear [message #28616 is a reply to message #28589 ] |
Thu, 22 April 2010 02:53 |
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Diane in MN
Messages: 2730
Registered: October 2008
Location: Twin Cities, MN, USA |
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Great post, and one that particularly resonates with those of us who have been afflicted by squirrels. When we lived outside Seattle, our house had squirrels in the attic. I think they were inside only during certain times of the year, because I didn't hear them all the time. They could not have been missed, because when they moved around up there or between floors, they sounded like the cavalry coming over the hill. Occasionally I would hear them chewing on something. We never did find anyone to get rid of them or locate the entry hole, and were just lucky that when we got the house appraised before moving, they were either inactive or vacationing in a tree . . .
We have red squirrels around here, and aggressive little snots they are, too, but mostly it's grey squirrels. My bird feeders are outside the fence and are now equipped with effective baffles, but when I first put them out, ambitious squirrels could reach them. "Come and see the squirrel on the bird feeder," I would call to my husband. He got tired of this pretty quickly, but my bitch Zinka learned "squirrel on the bird feeder" after about three repetitions, and would charge out to bark at them through the porch windows. Squirrels being squirrels, this didn't bother them a bit.
I don't think I've lost any plants to squirrels--the bunnies and deer provide that service--but my brother in New Jersey has a terrible time keeping them from his tomatoes. I'll have to warn him to watch out for his tulips, too! 
"The point of books is to have way too many but to always feel you never have enough . . . " Louise Erdrich
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 Re: Guest Post by Black Bear [message #28620 is a reply to message #28589 ] |
Thu, 22 April 2010 14:05 |
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Squirrel Mafia! Yikes! I've had 'examples' made of some of my tulips this spring, too, though it seems to be the chipmunks more than the squirrels. I have mixed feelings about our resident mob-when I lived near the university, squirrels never bothered our feeder-they were after richer fare-mostly pizza crust from the place at the end of the block. Now that I'm out of the city, the gray squirrels are much bolder-they are cute and hilariously funny, but only fear of the dog keeps them from total world domination. Maybe you should reconsider the relative smallness of your house-if these mafioso tendencies continue, you may need to hire yourself some 'protection'.
* It's a myth, by the way, that a big dog requires a big house-people ask me that all the time (it's right up there with saddle comments), but a big, low energy dog often takes up less indoor space than an active small breed.
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| Re: Guest Post by Black Bear [message #28645 is a reply to message #28640 ] |
Fri, 23 April 2010 00:00 |
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Diane in MN
Messages: 2730
Registered: October 2008
Location: Twin Cities, MN, USA |
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| Black Bear wrote on Thu, 22 April 2010 20:38 |
I own CATS. I see obedience in pets as positively alien.
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I have a friend who has done obedience competition with his Danes, and after losing his boy suddenly a few months ago, is now teaching his cat obedience. I have also seen an article--in AKC Gazette, I think, of all places--about cat agility competition. Of course the cat agility course has to be netted in like an aviary, and the cats have to be lured around the obstacles with a toy or something, but still . . .
"The point of books is to have way too many but to always feel you never have enough . . . " Louise Erdrich
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| Re: Guest Post by Black Bear [message #28658 is a reply to message #28638 ] |
Fri, 23 April 2010 10:40 |
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| Black Bear wrote on Thu, 22 April 2010 20:45 |
Right now it's a toss-up between coonhounds and malamutes. (Neither of which generally get on with cats, which is another issue in some of the breeds I tend to lust after...)
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Rats! Allergies and cats are a potent combined deterrent-Have you considered some of the more "hypo-allergenic" breeds? It's my understanding that no dog is fully allergen-free, but non-shedders are definitely easier to cope with for allergy sufferers. Otis' best dog friend is an outsized (110 lb)labradoodle. Doodles don't generally have the gravitas of a malamute or a coonhound, and often show a distressing tendency toward obedience, but, on the bright side, they usually get along with cats. (And dogs, horses, kids, mailmen, passers-by, carnival folk, etc.-guard dogs, they're not.) They're not typically as big as Otis' friend, but goldendoodles are often a pretty respectable size. I personally live in hope of meeting a cross between a poodle and a newfoundland-a noodle!-if only because of the name.
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| Re: Guest Post by Black Bear [message #28667 is a reply to message #28658 ] |
Fri, 23 April 2010 16:29 |
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shalea
Messages: 781
Registered: October 2008
Location: Raleigh, North Carolina, ... |
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| stormgoddess wrote on Fri, 23 April 2010 10:40 |
| Black Bear wrote on Thu, 22 April 2010 20:45 |
Right now it's a toss-up between coonhounds and malamutes. (Neither of which generally get on with cats, which is another issue in some of the breeds I tend to lust after...)
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Rats! Allergies and cats are a potent combined deterrent-Have you considered some of the more "hypo-allergenic" breeds? It's my understanding that no dog is fully allergen-free, but non-shedders are definitely easier to cope with for allergy sufferers...
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I would put in a further good word for retired racing greyhounds. They have very short dry (not oily, which also means very little if any "doggy" smell) coats which, although not hypo-allergenic, can be much more tolerable to people with mild allergies than many breeds. And although some individual dogs don't do well with cats, others do great.
They also have a very catlike approach to obedience, if that makes a difference for you. ("What's in it for me?")
Edited to add a disclaimer that I am, perhaps, more than a bit biased.
[Updated on: Fri, 23 April 2010 16:29]
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| Re: Guest Post by Black Bear [message #28695 is a reply to message #28676 ] |
Sun, 25 April 2010 02:08 |
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Diane in MN
Messages: 2730
Registered: October 2008
Location: Twin Cities, MN, USA |
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| Black Bear wrote on Sat, 24 April 2010 09:14 |
Yes, it's the oils, in addition to the hair or dander. My best friend has a whippet mix, and I'm often likely to have a bad reaction to her saliva--she's a licker, and if I let her lick my forearms or face, hives are a likely result. (And if she licks my hands and then I touch my eyes... Yeah.) But I ADORE her. Here she is, isn't she sweet?
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What a pretty girl! And boo hiss to the hives (I have had them, so I know they're no joke). There are shampoos and rinses that purport to deal with dander, but there's not much you can do about saliva.
"The point of books is to have way too many but to always feel you never have enough . . . " Louise Erdrich
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