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Early Morning Musings
May. 7th, 2003 05:59 amI have a new early morning exercise regime. In addition to the usual 'Mad dash to work on a bicycle while every driver in the area tries to mow me down' adrenaline rush.
It's called 'Dances with Raccoon Repellent'. Or 'Dances with the Rainbird', depending on how much of a mouthful we decide to think.
Y'see, I live in the middle of a fairly big, very nice Rose Garden. Organically Grown Rose Garden. Meaning that there are no pesticides or chemicals like that, but very nice soft rich soil. Which is just CRAWLING with big fat worms and other bugs.
Which attracts hummingbirds, finches, sparrows, doves, jays, mockingbirds, hawks, the occasional owl and a menagerie of other kinds of birds, plus cats, squirrels, the rare fox, bats, opossums and of course; raccoons.
Racoons which have a habit of uprooting the roses and other flowers in their nightly search for grubs.
So my lot-neighbour, the gardener, ordered this nifty little gizmo to frighten them off. It's like a rainbird sprinkler, but it has a heat sensor on it. When something passes it's vision, it aims a jet of water at it, then sprays down the whole area. (about 15ft in either direction of it)
Which is cool, except for I have to pass it around dawn to get to my bike so I can ride to work. And even if the water is turned off at the source, it's still got enough water for a quick shower for the next couple of things that it sees.
Namely me. ^^;;
So in addition to the early morning bike ride/obstacle course, we do an early morning sprint/duck/dash/jump to avoid getting soaked.
Coffee? Who needs coffee? @_@
It's called 'Dances with Raccoon Repellent'. Or 'Dances with the Rainbird', depending on how much of a mouthful we decide to think.
Y'see, I live in the middle of a fairly big, very nice Rose Garden. Organically Grown Rose Garden. Meaning that there are no pesticides or chemicals like that, but very nice soft rich soil. Which is just CRAWLING with big fat worms and other bugs.
Which attracts hummingbirds, finches, sparrows, doves, jays, mockingbirds, hawks, the occasional owl and a menagerie of other kinds of birds, plus cats, squirrels, the rare fox, bats, opossums and of course; raccoons.
Racoons which have a habit of uprooting the roses and other flowers in their nightly search for grubs.
So my lot-neighbour, the gardener, ordered this nifty little gizmo to frighten them off. It's like a rainbird sprinkler, but it has a heat sensor on it. When something passes it's vision, it aims a jet of water at it, then sprays down the whole area. (about 15ft in either direction of it)
Which is cool, except for I have to pass it around dawn to get to my bike so I can ride to work. And even if the water is turned off at the source, it's still got enough water for a quick shower for the next couple of things that it sees.
Namely me. ^^;;
So in addition to the early morning bike ride/obstacle course, we do an early morning sprint/duck/dash/jump to avoid getting soaked.
Coffee? Who needs coffee? @_@
