Raccoons in the attic

Tuesday evening, I had just gotten home from work and settled in on the couch with my dinner and my Tivo. I heard a horrible and loud noise right above me and it sounded like a person on the roof. I could hear something that sounded like breaking so of course, as any self-protecting female would do, I grab my gun and my flashlight. If someone is stupid enough to break into my attic, it would be clear they picked the wrong house!

I went outside and didn't see anything, until I went around the corner to the plastic vent cover on the side of my attic....there was a huge hole in it and broken plastic pieces just under it. My amazing detective skills alerted me there must be a critter in my house, which, like a burglar, is completely unacceptable!

I got a broom and banged on the ceiling and immediately heard the animal escape. I went outside, this time armed with pepper spray, a broom, and my flashlight. Of course, there was a monstrous raccoon sitting just outside the hole. Prepared to show the raccoon who the homeowner was, I used my pepper spray but alas, it didn't work (good to know right?!)

For the next 10 or so minutes I chased that animal around the roof hissing and scaring it with my light. Finally I threw a few small rocks and it ran away.

The next morning, I got up early to put some aluminum screening on the hole as a temporary fix. I'm not a complete moron so I pounded on the ceiling a bunch first listening for any movement. Hearing none, I proceeded up onto the roof. I've had my house now for about 5.5 years and the roof is the one place I still hadn't been. I used my flashlight but couldn't really see anything inside the attic and I still didn't hear anything. I had found an old can of pepper spray. It didn't really work, but I got a little bit of it inside. As I was stapling my screen up I heard what I thought might be birds but I couldn't tell if it was inside or not. I pounded on the wall and confirmed the noise got louder and it was definitely coming from inside. It freaked me out so I abandoned ship and pulled out the yellow pages.

I called around figuring I had babies in my attic because of the high pitched sounds. Did you know most pest control places don't do raccoons. You have to use a specialist. Critter control was crap, they wanted $209 just to come out an show me where entry points for animals could be. I'm not a moron, I know where the raccoon came in....and yes, it just came in, I'm positive! I contacted a pest company who agreed to come out and see if their were babies and remove them for free. The guy came out and as he stood on the roof with his flashlight looking in the hole, the raccoon swatted out at him almost getting him. The guy just about fell off my roof. That was the end of my free service :)

Cascade Pest Control referred me to Brendon with West Coast Wildlife Control. I spoke to him and he was very informative and helpful. He gave me lots of info and agreed to come out this afternoon. Last night was horrible, when I was in the living room I could hear the raccoon up in the attic making sounds and it freaked me out....I couldn't be in the living room.

When he arrived, he went into my attic with a pole to catch the animal. He didn't find any adults but found did find two babies. We are talking newborns, one still had the umbilical cord attached! They were right inside the vent where I thought they would be. Apparently momma was probably in labor when I was chasing her around with my broom :)

So, the hole will be left open for a couple of days so the momma can come back and see her babies are gone. Brendon said if the hole gets closed, momma will tear a new hole in the roof, siding, whatever it takes to get inside. Once momma is sure the babies are gone, she should come back and I can replace the vent with a new metal one.

On the bright side, apparently momma is very neat and hasn't taken any dumps in my attic yet! Amen for that!!

Raspberries and Trellises!

I had a sudden burst of energy today. I made four 18" inch boxes to surround my raspberries. I planted two bushes today, the ever-bearing variety so I should have some of my favorite fruit by late July! I will plant two more bushes but I want Royalty Raspberries and haven't found them yet. Those won't produce fruit until next year anyway.

I transplanted the first of the things I started inside. I moved out onions, bunching onions, and all the tomato plants. A few of the plants aren't quite big enough to move yet.

I also build 1.5 trellises for the plants I want to grow vertically. It's only 1.5 because I had a DV with one of the pieces of electrical conduit and re-bar. The darn things got stuck together and nothing I could think of could get them apart. Therefore, I only completed one of the trellises. I've decided I need to build another one anyway for my melons (that is if I can get them to grow), so I have to go back to Home Depot. ...Not that I need an excuse to go there :)

Friday 4/23

Things are growing in the garden! I'm having trouble with a few things.
1. The butternut squash that I started inside was thriving then suddenly took a turn for the worse. I moved it outside, but it died. The same thing happened to one of my good watermelon plants. It died before making it outside.
2. My orange watermelon is having a hard time spouting. I did a second indoor planting and it looks like they are starting to spout.
3. Can't get the cantaloupe to sprout. Apparently I'm not good with melons.

On a happy note, the varieties of lettuce I planted are doing awesome and the peas are coming up too! I found some sprouting corn stalks!

Here are the latest pictures. The big plants in the front are rhubarb that I bought at Flower World. I don't know how old they are but I doubt I'll get any stalks this year, it usually takes at least a year to get a good crop.

On Our Way!

This picture is from Friday. All of the onions had sprouted as had the butternut squash and one of the watermelon seeds. I need to think out the spouts to one per pod, but will wait until I can tell which one is stronger. I went to Flower World (my favorite place) while Princess was recovering at the vet from surgery. I selected 1 blueberry bush and 2 raspberry plants. I want another type of raspberries, but they didn't have the ones I want in stock. Raspberries are my favorite fruit so I'm kind of a snob :) The plants I got are ever-bearing so I will have a crop in the fall and another next spring.

I also purchased asparagus bulbs. This was a great find! I have learned asparagus takes 3 years to grow from seed. The bulbs I found are 2 years old so if all goes well, I will be able to harvest this year! The other bulbs I found are garlic. We will see how that grows....I really have no idea.

I purchased 2 rhubarb plants. I don't know how old they are, but typically you can't harvest until the second year, so I probably won't have any this year.

I found seeds for self-blanching cauliflower, broccoli, sugar pumpkins, and spinach.

Today I planted all of my new purchases. I also checked on the indoor starts again. Here is today's photo....I can't believe the amount of growth in 2 days! The celery seeds have now sprouted as have some of the tomatoes! Things are growing!!






When I was planting outside, I noticed tiny, hardly visible sprouts in the arugula and one of the lettuce squares. I am super excited and I know they aren't weeds because they are popping up right where I planted seeds!

The grid is laid!

The sun came out for a brief glimmer today, just long enough for me to lay the grid in my garden beds and plant some seeds. I used twine for the grid even though the square foot gardener method calls for a "permanent" grid. I just don't know how I feel about the method, but so far it seems easy for a beginner to figure out how much space I have and figure out where to put things.

Despite the wind storm going on I got 2 types of peas, beans, cucumber, several types of lettuce, corn, zucchini and yellow squash. My packet of carrot seeds blew away and it took me about 10 minutes of searching to find them. I eventually planted the first of many carrot squares.

I checked on the seeds I planted Fridays indoors. I was shocked to see some of the onions have sprouted! Yea!

I forgot to post this picture of filling the garden beds (which got me on the couch with a heating pad for 2.5 days), so here it is.

Starting a blog

I've had this blog space for almost a year and I'm finally getting around to starting my first real blog. I don't know that my life is exciting enough to write about, but what the heck!

I've decided to write about my very first vegetable garden. I grew up enjoying raspberries on my cereal all winter thanks to my grandpa's expansive garden in Portland. He grew everything you can imagine and I loved to eat it before it even made it inside. Eventually, my grandpa started planting my own pea patch because I ate so many off the vine that he didn't have any crop left.

The only things to eat that I've attempted to grow in the past are cherry tomatoes. I've been pretty successful, but may be pressing my luck with my new project.

Last weekend I built three 8x4 foot planter beds. I used 8" cedar boards for the project. I filled the beds with a mix of equal parts course vermiculite, peat moss, and compost (several different types). I plan to use the Square Foot Gardening method but haven't laid the grid yet in the beds due to crappy Seattle weather.

Today I planted my first seeds indoors. Yes, I am pretty late, but I concluded late that I was

completely capable of building the boxes by myself. I purchased indoor seed start boxes online so I followed the instructions and have now planted bunching onion, red onion, cantaloupe, seedless mini watermelon, orange mini watermelon, sweet peppers, 3 types of tomato, butternut squash, and celery.

As soon as the weather improves long enough for me to get outside and lay the grid, I will plant a ton of stuff that requires a direct sow. I'm looking forward to experimenting and figuring out what I can grow. I can't wait to eat my first home grown salad!