An invasion of critters
It is with a heavy heart that I lay these problems at the community’s doorstep. But I am at my wit’s end. Before I tell y’all the circumstances of my most recent plight, I should say right up front that I am an animal lover and have always been an advocate for animal welfare, particularly our local homeless animals.
HOWEVER, having said that, here’s my current problem. There are SEVERAL critters invading my home and I need them gone ... in whichever way the Lord sees fit to take them.
My problem critters are cats, ants and birds. Here’s the breakdown: Birds: This is about two birds in particular. I recently bought ferns to hang up on the front porch because that’s what people do this time of year. They buy ferns and hang ‘em up. Big, pretty ferns ain’t cheap. Well for about a week now, two birds have been trying to build a nest inside one of the ferns. I love birds and am happy to see them starting a family BUT they’re destroying the fern I paid good money for. AND not only that, but if they put a nest in there and lay eggs and have babies, I won’t want to disturb them by watering the fern or moving it around like you need to do sometimes. It’ll die. Well, not on my watch.
Every day I come outside and I take down a newly built nest that’s in there. These dang birds are persistent. I absolutely hate destroying their hard work but I can’t have them building a nest in that fern. If you drive through Celanese and see me cussing at a tree, please don’t think I’m crazy. I would love for the birds to build a nest anywhere else in my yard, just not in the fern. Other than removing their nest I don’t know how to deter them.
Ants: Starting a few weeks ago, little black ants have been appearing in my kitchen. I’ve never had an ant problem before. There is never any food left out or anything else that would otherwise bring them to the kitchen but they still come back. I can’t figure out where they’re coming from. I tried the little gel that you buy and put in the corners for them to take back to their nest and that seemed to work for a little while.
But now they’re back and I don’t know how to get rid of them. I guess I’ll do some more research and try different tactics. But it’s so annoying to walk into the kitchen and find a bunch of little ants in the sink when there are no dishes or food there. Someone told me cinnamon deters them? Is that just an old wives tale or is there any truth to that? I don’t know where their nest is. Perhaps it’s under the house but I haven’t been able to figure out exactly how they’re getting in. Cats: My neighborhood — Celanese — is ground zero for feral cats. My street, in particular, seems like it’s Disney World to them because they all come and bring their families and have a great ol’ time. One of the problems is that people feed them, so they stay. But those people don’t get them spayed or neutered so they have lots of babies and then those babies have babies and so on and so forth. Here’s where it becomes my business. Some of these cats have discovered that my front porch is a great place to hang out and in particular they love to congregate on my rocking chair that was a gift from a very good friend. The cats lay up on MY rocking chair and then have the audacity to use it as a scratching post. Well I ain’t havin’ it. Like I said, I love animals but these cats have got to go. I am NOT advocating violence against these cats. But if I catch them on my porch again, I’ll ... remove them ... in such a way that they will be unable to return to my porch and destroy my property.
As I stated before I am a huge animal lover and advocate UNTIL they come up on to my porch and start destroying my property. If you read this and are concerned for the feral cats of Celanese, you are welcome to come get them off my porch before I skin them with my own bare hands.