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2822. arkymalarky - 3/30/2005 12:00:11 AM We went for a country drive yesterday and saw a beautiful gray heron. 2823. wonkers2 - 3/30/2005 12:05:44 AM  Squirrel portrait (last fall)
2824. jexster - 3/30/2005 5:09:15 AM Back in the Good Ole Daze, the High Life on Park Ave./Upper East Side, I took my dad to Le Bernardin. Now 81 he says he "will remember the evening the rest of his life"
Sent this NyT review
Still 4 stars after all these years 2825. Macnas - 3/30/2005 1:31:03 PM Birds in the garden at the moment:
A wren! Not often seen in my garden, in fact I cannot recall seeing one before.
Robins, always here, I think they are nesting in some ivy.
Black birds, always hopping in and out, nesting in the hedgerow behind our garden wall.
A Mistle thrush, a grand big fellow too, nearly as brazen as the robins.
Starlings, now and then will mob the back garden, you look out and there are 20 of them hopping and jumping around the place. 2826. Macnas - 3/30/2005 1:36:08 PM What did I see the other day but one of these:
Carrying a rabbit 5 times its own weight by the look of it too. Although stoats are common, it's rare you'd see one, as they are quick, furtive creatures who do not stand much observation. 2827. jayackroyd - 3/30/2005 2:45:35 PM Mac's robins aren't the same as the US variety.  2828. Magoseph - 3/30/2005 3:03:17 PM 
2829. arkymalarky - 3/30/2005 8:38:40 PM Oooh, Mac, how cool! I've seen a mink once around here, years ago, and a ferret in CO once when we were camping. They are so neat. To see one with a rabbit would really be wild.
We saw our first snake--a black one--on the road yesterday. I wish I could do a garden this spring, or at least spruce up the landscaping. We haven't done anything to the yard in a long while. 2830. arkymalarky - 3/30/2005 8:39:39 PM Those robins are really pretty. I'd have never guessed that's what that was. 2831. thoughtful - 3/30/2005 9:46:43 PM we caught a weasel once in a live trap... not sure the difference between weasel, ermine and stoat if there is any. Anyway dad took it to the dump to let it go, but man did it let out the most awful stench. Fortunately, it's not "sticky" like the skunk and the car smelled fine as soon as he let the thing out. 2832. Magoseph - 3/30/2005 10:21:15 PM Flexy last year was trying to live-trap the squirrels that were tearing holes in the roof and running around the attic chewing up everything. What he ended up trapping were vicious raccoons that were very unafraid of people. After an encounter with a particularly large one that went after him, he gave up the endeavor. It turned out he met an old-timer in the grocery store who told him to obtain a pail—fill it with old towels, soak the towels in ammonia and put the pail in the attic. He said, “You won’t have squirrels for very long,” and he was right. Squirrels have an unbelievable sense of smell and simply cannot tolerate ammonia. 2833. Magoseph - 3/30/2005 10:22:07 PM We had to replace the roof, though. 2834. thoughtful - 3/30/2005 10:50:40 PM That's good to know...a friend had a similar problem with squirrels in the attic..don't remember how he solved it though.
I love simple common sense solutions like that one though.
Another fellow I worked with was hit with carpenter bees. I'd never heard of them but apparently they can be very destructive on wood houses, like carpenter ants. Here's a shot of the damage they do to wood to make their nests.
 2835. arkymalarky - 3/30/2005 11:41:23 PM You can also pour amonia on your garbage bags if you have a neighborhood dog problem, though I think most people have more secure garbage accommodations than they used to.
2836. arkymalarky - 3/30/2005 11:41:46 PM m 2837. Macnas - 3/31/2005 7:39:22 AM I think, but I'll have to look it up, that stoats are very closely related to weasels, ermine and mink. All mustelids, if my memory serves me right. I think the badger is among that group as well.
I cannot say as to how bad a stoats odour might be, as I have never been that close to one. But I do know that ferrets, particularly male ferrets (called a hob) can stink to high heaven. We used to keep ferrets when I was a boyeen:
Thats a working albino ferret, about to flush a rabbit to the waiting lurcher. I have thoughts that when I retire I'll rear some and relive my youth. 2838. alistairconnor - 3/31/2005 9:40:44 AM I saw a ferret the other day, crossing the road. I think it's the first one I've seen.
Though it could have been a stoat. I didn't ask him.
(anyway I can't think of the French for stoat.)
Old but lame :
What's the difference between a weasel and a stoat? 2839. alistairconnor - 3/31/2005 10:13:41 AM ... one of them's weasily distinguished...
... and ... 2840. Ronski - 4/3/2005 4:04:23 AM The spring thaw:
 2841. Ronski - 4/3/2005 3:35:40 PM That was yesterday. Today, the rain has turned to wet snow.
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