from the comments
Erica, kale will grow very nicely in a container. It likes the cold, as you know. I don’t have personal experience with deer (rabbits, squirrels, chipmunks, birds and lately a raccoon!). But I have heard of some things that can help if you don’t have a tall fence.
Fragrant bars of soap hung from branches or a bamboo stick, etc., about 30 inches from the ground. Think Irish Spring. Or human hair (ask a barber for trimmings) in mesh bags three feet off the ground. Plant spray made of three raw eggs in a gallon of water. Supposedly deer hate that. Also, row covers can help for a while, anyway.
I’ve also had success with mirror mobiles. I had one that was just a long fishing-wire string with small round mirrors attached. I laced it from a piece of wire protruding from a fence and nothing bothered my garden for ages. It would swing around in the sun and wind and it must have freaked out the varmints. Then the Iowan managed to knock it off onto the brick walk and broke a lot of it.
So I bought some very thin fishing wire and a bunch of little mirrors from a craft store. One mirror, glue, attached to the back of an identical mirror. Either one string or attach multiple strings to, say, a wire hanger, which is not pretty but will do the job. Speaking of, you also might string fishing wire between posts in the garden because supposedly that confuses deer.
Good luck!
tweet of the day
I don’t need to read articles or books on atheism.My dog’s farts assure me we are all alone.
— Brian Posehn (@thebrianposehn) February 3, 2012
Offer: Blow up nativity for yard
Posted to Dubuque Freecycle group:
Offer: Blow up nativity for yard Clarke area of Dubuque
This works, we just don’t have a spot in our yard here that works, we are all hill! This is in great shape, only one stitch holding up a sheep has come out otherwise good as new. Quick pickup would be a plus, hoping to put it out today. Thanks
I’m sorry, I’m just thinking about sloths again.
via Devour
T-Rex Trying…
Hugh Murphy’s tumblr documenting The Unfortunate Trials of The Tyrant Lizard King.
(thanks, Amy)
It looks remarkably like Africa, but it’s not — this is Texas
60 Minutes did a segment on African animals, some on the verge of extinction in their natural habitats, thriving on Texas ranches that offer the opportunity to hunt some of the animals in exchange, I guess, for the economic incentive to protect the rest. Embedding was disabled, but you can watch the video on YouTube.
(via marginal revolution)
headline of the day
Why Popcorn Smells Like a Bearcat’s Butt
this is a metaphor for something
Wastelander Panda
A prologue for a developing TV series. I would totally watch this.
Owlet Caterpillars of Eastern North America
My same friend Susan who brought us the critically acclaimed Omega Institute in Your Pants, 2010 edition today supplied the following list, from the book Owlet Caterpillars of Eastern North America by David L. Wagner, Dale F. Schweitzer, J. Bolling Sullivan, and Richard C. Reardon:
Sordid Snout
The Herald
Feeble Grass Moth
Dead-wood Borer
The Betrothed
The Little Wife
Serene Underwing
The Consort
Dejected Underwing
Inconsolable Underwing
Tearful Underwing
Sad Underwing
The Penitent
Sappho Underwing
Youthful Underwing
Darling Underwing
Read more
The face behind the honey badger
Embedding the video requires a mess of code I don’t want to propagate, so just go watch it here and, on the off chance you haven’t seen the video in question, you should probably go do that now.
Please Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood
Related to stuff we’re talking about.
headline of the day, II
Farmer caught spray-painting hawks as part of “prank” on bird-watchers
tweet of the day, III
The official flower of the state of Texas is Meat
— Fake Wikipedia (@FakeWikipedia) January 18, 2012
tweet of the day
There’s literally no way to know how many chameleons are in your house
— Megan Amram (@meganamram) January 15, 2012
headline of the day
Monkeys Devise a Tool to Break Out of Zoo in Brazil
Riusuke Fukahori, Goldfish Salvation
Sarah posted Riusuke Fukahori’s freakishly realistic resin goldfish on her tumblr:
Absurdly realistic sculptures of goldfish created by Riusuke Fukahori, one layer of paint & resin at a time.
Watching the meticulous layers applied is stop-motion goodness.
“The world is becoming a zoo,” says Linden — speaking from the human point of view
Stray dogs figure out how to use Moscow’s subway system to get downtown to neighborhoods where the food is better.
For years, a house cat in England takes the public bus to get around town, unbeknownst to its owner.
A jungle leopard in India, needing to cross a swollen river with its cub, gets a man to ferry her and her cub across in his canoe.
Dolphins at a dolphin show in Hawaii instantly figure out a mistake their trainers have made and cover for them pretty well, preventing embarrassment all around.
The wild ocean cousins of those “tame” show dolphins have a long-standing partnership with fishermen along the coasts of both Brazil and Bengal that means more fish for all.
In Western Australia’s Shark Bay, wild dolphins being studied by scientists from Harvard, appear themselves to be studying the humans — including this reporter.
And other examples of animal intelligence.
(via marginal revolution)
headline of the day
headline of the day, II
Video captures a fish mimicking a mimic octopus that mimics fish
headline of the day, II
Amazing Motion Controlled, Cat-Grooming Robot Demonstrated
from the moderated comments
It’s a fantastic dicovery, it’s mean that another species other than human that can understand permenantly the concept of death! But, it’s cruel, the poor gorilla is sad and because he understand it too well, he is experiencing the same desperate feeling that us when we face death … where’s the ethic ? I hope they confort him well … and that he can be a happy gorilla! :\
headline of the day
Pepsi Says Mountain Dew Can Dissolve Mouse Carcasses
Farewell to a chimp
Norma Desmond makes funeral arrangements.
Inspired by @Howlinow, who spoke of the late Cheeta (whomever he may have been, and however long he may have lived) as “the Norma Desmond of simians.”
Angry Rats
From a year end compilation of scientific photos:
Rats don’t deserve their bad name, but this ball of fury won’t win over many murophobes. Russian scientists bred this aggressive rat strain to compare it with more docile creatures in a study on domestication that has teased out several genetic regions linked to tame traits.
