After all the storms we had over the past couple months, apparently some roamers chewed through one of my vinyl siding vents over top of my garage. A week ago my neighbor pointed it out to me. I boarded up the vent immediately and the following morning when I went up into the attic to look at the vent from the inside I found I had company…….. Yeah, face to fuzzy face…….

When I pulled into the long drive leading to my son's new home in Mississippi, the first thing I noticed were three pairs of eyes reflected in the headlights. The local deer were already checking out the new landscaping and conducting taste tests! It didn't take long to discover the deer approved of the new ornamental trees and flowers. Clearly a plan was needed to allow enjoyment of the wildlife while also protecting landscape plants from becoming a daily smorgasbord for the area's deer population.

Whether you live in the heart of the city or out in the country, chances are you’ve been visited by an unwanted critter. Squirrels, raccoons, groundhogs, even stray cats like to the wander the neighborhood looking for treasures – especially those near your garden or in your garbage can. You’re left with a mess and a dug up flowerbed. But what can you do? Most of us just accept it as part of yard-ownership because it’s too hard to deal with the problem. And we certainly don’t want to kill the critters – we just want them to go somewhere else!

This past fall our neighborhood developed quite a raccoon problem. Especially around our garbage cans and our neighbor’s corn stand. In one night those critters ate nearly half the rows of sweet corn and stomped all over the rest of the garden! So, we went to work to get rid of them but tried to do it as humanely as possible. After all, these little guys were just looking for food and didn’t really mean to wreck the garden.