ddsrph

WEBlue

Wow, that's quite a herd of deer!! I usually see only one or two (often a mother plus a youngster) & I get stressed out enough watching them graze my various perennials and carefully-nurtured shrubs.... But round here I've never seen a large group like you've got!

Just out of curiosity, what is it you feed deer? In the photo, looks like salt....?

ddsrph

Nutmegger

Here is our resident fox -- but he does his own foraging. I usually get a photo of him crossing the bridge over the river at around 1 am, then returning in the opposite direction around 3 am. This is a rare daytime trip.

Maste

this weekend we fixed up our front porch, decorated it, planted potted plants and it's all nice now.

One final project I want to do is build a zip line for my dog across the porch so she can come out with us, but can roam around the porch as she wishes. She can't be trusted off leash but I can train her to be good on the zip line! Anyone know how to build such a thing? and what materials I'd need to do so? Looking to do it all DIY so it's cheap.

ddsrph

Nutmegger

zzrmark

That sounds like a great way for an inquisitive mutt to scatter said pot plants, training the mutt to do what it's told is not as hard as people make out and has many other benefits than just for porch control, remember you (or your partner) are the boss not the dog.

Maste

Cheers for that, I'll look at Lowes and HD as we go there a lot due to fixing up things in the house a lot! Yeah, she wears a harness so I'd attach it to that so she'd just dangle like a piñata if she decides to take a leap of faith!

Sides are completely open otherwise we would. She wouldn't jump of the sides under normal circumstances, but if she sees a squirrel or rabbit, she will be gone no matter what. It's a concrete porch that's part of the house and leads right onto a tiny pathway onto the sidewalk, then right onto the road. Hence why I want to play it safe and make something so we can all relax out front.

She knows not to go by plants, bushes, trees, etc unless I give her the okay to go ahead and sniff. I've taught her a lot of things, wait in the car until I give the signal to come out, wait inside the back yard with the gate open and not to wander into the alley, don't leave the house until I tell her to, etc. I've taught her all of those kind of things which people often can claim is hard to do.

However, our house is right by a one way street which leads onto a very busy road, and she would cover the distance to the main road within 5 seconds if she sees prey. Her prey drive is way extremely high due to being a pointer. We are working on appropriate responses to prey rather than chase, (point instead, as she's a pointer!) but it's proving pretty tough with this mutt. And living so close to a main road, a zip line for her will give us peace of mind and ensure her safety. If we lived somewhere rural with a big front yard off the porch, I'd let her wander a little off the porch as she does that up at my wife's parents house and when we hike, and always comes back to check in or when we call her. But her vs a car/busy road is a risk too far for me, and not worth the chance in her current young stages of training (she's only 1).

Bob

We've finally put a small raised bed out. Home Depot, had a slot together kit that was the same money as making a proper bed. 10 cubic feet of dirt, might not be much, only 5 bags...but but a properly busted hamstring, that was a barrel of laughs.

Now watching things die or be eaten. Yay.

zzrmark

Ouch. Must be the week for shifting dirt, I acquired a good load of dirt which must have weighed nearly a ton when I shovelled it into the truck bed, unfortunately it then rained really hard Friday afternoon and held a huge amount of water. My shocks must have been groaning a bit, the tow bar on the Tundra was only about six inches from the tarmac - the pile is now sitting in the middle of the part of our yard that floods and looks like a small anthill, I can't get my head round how much more I'm going to need to make a difference, probably about three full dump trucks just to level it out.
At least I didn't snap/bust anything! GWS

BEVS

That sounds like our veg patch.

Planted out 6 late lettuces . In precisely one day am already down to two.

Rete

Curious why you are feeding them. Of course, they won't leave because it is easy picking. You seem to have enough wooded area that can provide deer and fox with their natural foodstuffs.

ddsrph

Bob

The basil, is already wilting and looking like it isn't going to see the weekend.

The mint is about the only thing that is somewhat looking like it won't die. That is in a pot though...after planting a couple of pieces a few years ago at the last place and then having half the garden covered in mint and only mint by the time we moved last summer.