Groundhog Day

Today is Groundhog Day. Don’t know if the official groundhog saw his shadow but I saw mine. Not a pretty site. Looks like I need to hit the gym a couple more times a week. Today is also my x-husbands birthday now that was a rodent if I ever saw one, and not the cute and cuddly kind. But I could say we were the same age and that would make me a few years younger. Mother was trying to take Daddy’s birthday so she would be younger. Two of my husbands were younger and one older I could combine them and be 6 years younger. That sounds good to me.

Six more weeks till spring and I am thinking of which flower beds to change this year and what to plant in my garden... The books tell me the little animals will not bother my vegetable garden as badly if I put squash or pumpkins around the edges as the animals do not like to go through the sticky leaves of those plants. Guess I will add miniature gourds and pumpkins to my plantings around my corn. Oh I saw a corn plant that was red and white striped in a seed catalog the other day guess I will have to find one of those to plant beside the flower bed that would look nice. Must also plant white geraniums around as the bugs mainly Japanese beetles do not like them and this last year as I had several white geraniums we had almost no Japanese beetles. Will have to put one under my purple shrub at the front of the house the beetles had a field day with that. Hopefully the coon population will be down this year if all of them stay in the park we relocated them to, if to we still have our traps although after 9 raccoons and 2 opossums the trap is a little worst for wear. Those big coons can tear things up plus the tore out the grass under the cage so now we have spots that need reseeded. The drain from the sump pump is clogged so will have to dig that up in the spring to rebury the pipe... It’s on top of the yard right now and we have a little stream going to the storm drain. The birds like it they have running water to drink. Guess I need to put in a fountain for them. Last summer I had a bird bath that the raccoons kept knocking down. So maybe the birds will have it better also with the raccoons gone I know their food in the feeders last longer as they were climbing the poles and emptying the feeder each night. They love suet cakes with fruit. They took suet, wire holder and all.
I don’t know which little animal ate my clematis vines they were cut at the base did not seem to be eaten just cut off. And of course that happened while they were in full bloom
I went out one morning and there were wilted red flowers on the top of the trellis and upon checking they were no longer attached to the roots.

Think I will plant mint plants next to where we store the garbage cans. Last year I had some in baskets and set next to garbage cans but Otila didn’t like them so she moved them and as soon as she moved them we had mice in that area and in the garage. Mice don’t like the smell of mint. So this year I’m going to plant it in the ground she will find it harder to move them, she will not pull weeds or plants as she doesn’t get dirt on her hands. So I think my mint plants will be safe.

Hope you all have a pleasant rest of winter and have happy dreams of a spring to come.
Cinderella