herb planter

check out my new outdoor herb planter!

pretty jazzed about this. last year i had all my herbs lined up in little pots on the deck and the rabbits and squinnies would occasionally get to them but no longer.  i saw this idea on pinterest and talked my dad and jared into helping me pull it off.  and we got all the materials at lowe's for less than $35.00.

in it i have a few different flowers and the following herbs:
parsley
cilantro
basil
tarragon
rosemary
thyme

i just love spring! 

rabbits, squinnies and bees...oh my

spring has sprung.  look what else showed up this weekend, i hope the warm weather is here to stay:

my chives are growing like crazy.

the flowers are coming up, hopefully the frost stays away.

and yep the weeds even made their first appearance.

time to pull out the patio furniture and put away the snow blower.

squinnies update

i was finally coming to terms with the squinnies. i realized they weren't doing any harm so i should learn to get over my fear. then last week i found one nestled up in my tarragon, not once but twice and after pounding on the patio door, it wasn't even phased by me. that was it, WAR.

we went back online to do some research and while everyone suggests just shooting them, i still don't think a gun will be in my future. instead i went to the store and bought rat poisoning. while i do feel extremely guilty about killing these guys off, i am ready for them to stop making a mess and to leave my herbs alone.

j-rod set out the poisoning and the next day it was gone. i then saw a squinny running around on the deck like a crazy person, so maybe it worked? i am sure there are more just lurking around the yard, but i am determined to get rid of them one by one.

squinnies?

Not until I moved to West Des Moines had I ever seen or heard of a squinny or as I thought they were called "squinnties" aka ground squirrels. Pretty sure these creatures didn't exist in Mount Pleasant.

I'm not afraid of regular squirrels and growing up I was a fan of Alvin and the Chipmunks but for whatever reason I am scared to death of their much smaller, more agile relative. And they seem to really like our new house, I often see them hanging out on our back brick patio and near our front steps.

I googled how to get rid of them and have decided I'm stuck with them. None of their methods would ever work for me. I'm not on board with getting a cat, trapping them in a cage or using rat poison.

And in case you were wondering I made JH pick out the picture for my blog as I was cringing in my seat looking at their mug shots.