December 31st, 2006

The squirrels are back so it is time to get out the trap again. I think they must have taken a quick trip south of the border and come back with a taste for chilies as the cayenne pepper no longer deters them from the black oil seeds. There are three of them and I think they are siblings as they all have a white patch on their outer ears – perhaps a genetic gift from the beautiful white squirrel that was around here several years ago. One of them is a female, about to be a mother. She tugs and tugs at the dried day lily stems and then carries a mouthful up to the top of a tree covered in ivy. I must remove her soon so she can make another nest.

Most of us are used to seeing robins in the winter, but cocking their heads and pulling up worms in December is something to remember. They also stripped the red-berried winterberry, the one closest to the house and didn’t touch the one across the field. Maybe they are saving that one for February. If you feed birds you might like to try saving your eggshells. After you have a bowlful, put them in a cooling oven on a cookie sheet. (They scrunch up better when they are dry.) Then put them in a bag and mash them into bits. Somehow or other the birds know the crushed shells contain useful minerals and your little pile will be gone in two days.

Last year I read about stunting leaf growth on paper white narcissus bulbs with alcohol so I tried it. Unfortunately my camera isn’t speaking to my computer at this point so I can’t send you a photo, but the results are amazing; a white fluffy mass of flowers well above the leaves. They look so good you might think it was an ad in a bulb catalogue. If you want to try it here’s how. Buy the cheapest gin or vodka that you can. If the label reads 40% you want to dilute it with water to 4% that would be nine quarter cups of water to one quarter cup of alcohol. (Bourbon, Scotch, Rye or Rum won’t work). Of course you are using pebbles or clear marbles (try A.C.Moore or Michaels) to support the bulbs.

This amazing warm fall and early winter have been very beneficial for our heating bills but it has also brought four of my spring flowering bushes into bloom. This would be a good time to force forsythia as it is on the brink of bursting out all over. I checked with two local orchardists to see if they were worried about their apples and peaches breaking dormancy but all seems well there.