The Gardeners Anonymous Blog

An Appropriate Ending.

I have been asked by several people, “what happened to the lions?” 

Well, quite simply, they moved on. 

Mountain lions will stick around usually for 2-3 days after they have made a kill and will feed periodically until the kill starts to get icky. That is my scientific term for it—icky. Then other creatures have their turn, like bobcats, skunks, vultures, and insects.

Before the lions left Alicia’s house, they moved the buck to another location. One that seemed more appropriate.Nature is so interesting and mysterious. I couldn’t help but come up with my own scientific theory as to why they dragged their kill to Alicia and Bernie’s picnic table. 

I would like to believe they were trying to share. Perhaps to say “Hey, thanks for letting us stay in your front yard and scare the bejesus out of you these past few days.”

“Thanks for letting us slay a large deer in the middle of your driveway and pick at the carcass at our leisure.” “Thanks for not calling the sheriff so that we would become carcasses ourselves.” Above all Alicia and Bernie, thanks for being understanding—and not hysterical—humans.”

David from the Open Space Authority said it best: "The way Alicia and Bernie handled a couple of pumas in their front yard gives me hope that we have a chance to protect these animals."

 

Double the Fun In Alicia’s Wild Kingdom

The mountain lion left the carcass of the big buck at the base of Alicia’s backyard hill. 

The buck seemed too big for the lioness to drag any further. Alicia woke up before dawn and looked to see if the buck was still there 

She noticed that the carcass had been eaten further. She watched it and waited patiently to see if the lion would return. 

She didn’t have to wait long.  The lioness approached the carcass a few minutes later and Alicia almost snorted coffee out her nose when a second, smaller lion joined it.

Mama and teenager.

Holy Venison, Batman! 

The day before, when Alicia first reported to me from her Wild Kingdom, she said the mountain lion looked so big she thought for sure it was a male. I said, ”Well at least it’s not a mama with cubs, that might be a real dangerous situation.” 

Oh crap.

The cub seemed older, more of an adolescent than a baby. It was nearly the same size as its mother, probably about a year old.

The female lion is wearing a radio collar.

The pair of lions started to feed on the carcass. According to Alicia the meal was cooperative and carried out in a very orderly manner, unlike dinners at my house.

  Mountain lion doing the dishes

After the two mountain lions had finished their meal, they took turns burying the carcass, which, I guess, is the mountain lion’s version of the doing the dishes. My kids don’t do the dishes without a fight.

  Maybe tomorrow night I’ll give them a choice between washing plates and burying a dead deer. 

The Mid-Peninsula Open Space researchers came up in the afternoon and placed an infrared field camera near the carcass. 

In the next couple of days it should record some great insight into the everyday life of a mother lion and her offspring. 

Heaven knows I could use some tips.

Life and Death In The Garden of Alicia

In the late afternoon yesterday my neighbor Alicia was happily watering her deer-resistant garden. 

Unlike me, she allows deer to roam free on her property. She’s even given them names like “Rat With Hooves,” “Garden Destroyer,” and “Bambi-Pig,” 

Wait. Those are my names for deer. 

So there she was, sprinkling her lavender, happily surrounded by  her cloven-footed friends.

Cue the sounds of bucolic birdies chirping and flute music. Think “Bambi meets Godzilla.” 

According to Alicia, her deer friends suddenly scattered in a big cloud of dust. When the dust cleared, one of the largest bucks was being straddled by a mountain lion. 

The mountain lion had its jaws around the buck’s neck—and for the next eight minutes the buck fought for its life, dragging the lion around Alicia’s driveway kicking and struggling until it finally succumbed.

Abutilon with Mountain Lion and Fresh Kill. Photo by Alicia

Alicia’s first reaction was to try and save the buck by running at the lion and making loud noises. 

Wha? Alicia! 

She soon realized that with all those sharp teeth, she was outnumbered. So she turned tail (or not) and ran into her house. 

She called me while all this was going on.

I was jealous that I wasn’t watching this wildlife drama unfold live. She said it was like being in an episode of Mutual of Omaha’s Wild Kingdom.

Abutilon Framing Wild Kingdom. Photo by Alicia.

From her living room window she watched as the exhausted lion stood next to the downed deer and panted for about forty minutes, catching it’s breath and preparing for dinner. 

Next, the mountain lion dragged the deer—which weighed at least as much as she did, thirty feet to the base of a small hill. Then she began to eat, stripping fur from its belly and tossing it aside.

The mountain lion ate for about 20 minutes, and then left the deer carcass at the base of the hill. 

Alicia decided to finish her watering some other day.

Busy Birdies

Female House Finch in Nest

My baby house finches have fledged and now the nest is empty.

I was about to take the nest out of the birdfeeder and use it as a feeder again, when another female finch flew into the feeder and did this little movement sort of like she was getting comfortable, settled into the nest—and then promptly flew away. 

Maybe it was the fact I grew up in the sixties and retain only a few precious brain cells, but my first thought was, oh how cute, a baby bird has returned back to it’s place of it birth, it’s first home. Kind of like a sappy children’s book-“Birdie’s First Bed” or “Birdie Comes Home.” 

I left the nest alone, and noticed the bird was back the next day and the same Hunky male finch with the bright red head I had grown to know over the last few weeks was at the feeder next to her. 

It was starting to look bad for my children’s book.

I soon learned that house finches have 1-3 broods a year. This will be the third brood for the busy couple. No wonder House Finches are one of the most common birds in the North America with populations somewhere around 1 billion birdies. 

They are highly social and do well with human encroachment, nesting in a wide variety of areas and items. I use plant saucers and bird feeders to attract house finches to my yard. 

Well, it was kind of an accident but that’s what they seem to like so I just go with it. 

Females are attracted to males with the reddest head, and the truly interesting thing about this is birds can’t make the bright red or yellow colors directly. They get the intense colors from pigment in their food, the more pigment the redder the male. I guess the chicks love the redheads because they know where the yummy food is. 

House finches are vegetarians. They eat mostly seeds and feed their young an exclusively vegetarian diet. This is somewhat rare in the bird world. 

It doesn’t seem that rare to me, but I’m not an ornithologist, I’m just a chick with a bird feeder.

12 Things I Learned After Being Bitten By A Rattlesnake

Baby Northern Pacific Rattlesnake

While in the hospital recovering from my bite, I did a lot of snake thinking and learning. 

I became freakishly drawn to snakes. I read about them. I watched TV shows about them. I spent hours lying in bed with my laptop perusing the Internet for snake facts. I spoke to other snakebite victims. I spoke to snake experts. I spoke to snake bite experts. It was almost as if I was becoming a snake.

When I thought of swallowing mice whole, my mouth would start to water. 

And although my life hasn’t changed much, I still hike the same trails and do all the same things—maybe with a little more caution.

What has changed is that I know a heck of a lot more about snakes, what happens when you’re bit by one, and what to do when you’re bit by one, than I did a year ago.

One of the first things I learned was that rattlesnakes don’t necessarily rattle before they bite you. Their first line of defense is to blend in with their surroundings. Many people who are bitten either step on a snake, like I did, or the accidentally put their hand on a snake. 

It usually takes a serious threat to cause them to rattle—like a giant size 9½ running shoe crushing down on them. 

Here are some things I learned that you should know:

What’s In That White Stuff That Keeps Flowers Fresh?

I never put that powdery stuff that comes with fresh flowers in vases with my cut flowers. I’m not sure why, but I think it seems kind of chemicalish.

I’ve put a packet in once before and I sort of covered my nose and mouth and stepped aside until the initial puff of powder had settled, thinking I might be exposing myself to some powdery form of cyanide or arsenic.

I finally tried it again with the roses we bought for my son on the opening night of his most recent play. I put a packet in with them and—look at them—two and a half weeks later.

So what’s the magical chemical ingredients of the longevity potion powder?

Well, it’s sugar, mostly. Sugar. The sugar acts like food for the flowers. There is something to stop the growth of bacteria, and something to change the ph making it more acid, such as citric acid.

That’s all it is.

Tip: A 5oz. packet is enough for a pint of water. Most vases hold a quart. If you make the solution too weak, you may end up feeding the bacteria and therefore causing it to grow. oopsie.

Stumble It!

Fun With Genetics and Pumpkins

I planted seeds from two different pumpkins this year, one was a Galeux d' Eysines (pink warty), and one was a Princess Pumpkin.
Only one or two of the Princess Pumpkin seeds sprouted. Most of the pink warties sprouted but a lot shriveled on the vine.

So almost all, if not every single pumpkin came from pink warty seeds. The variation is impressive. Now I know I don’t have to go out and buy many different seeds or pumpkins to get seeds from.

All I need is one or two.

These two are definitely from the Galeux d’ Eysines.