Chipmunks in various blogs lately and why I look askance at the cute little critters.
To wit: library friend reported a chipmunk got in through an open patio door after she'd repeatedly reminded her husband to shut it every time because of chipmunks and squirrels on the patio.
She thought she saw something flittering across the living room to the kitchen where the dishwasher was running. Couple of minutes later, explosion in kitchen, flames and water together shooting about, fire fighters cut water and power to extinguish the fire and found a tiny charred body in the wiring. I don't know what she said to her husband.
To second wit: pet supply store friends came home from vacation, to find water running down the driveway, discovered the basement was full, couple of inches throughout the ground floor, and many tiny toothmarks in the pvc basement water supply pipes, through which water had evidently been jetting while they were away.
Also a drowned chipmunk. And all appliances drowned and needing replacement. Serious furnace damage.
On a cheerier note, I have added to my classic Kindle library a complete Mrs Gaskell, and I'm currently rereading Cranford with much more appreciation than when it was a school set book.
While I'm stitching, I also found a good audio version, so my FOMO is satisfied.
Misfits day
Great deal on white sweet potatoes, which will be roasted, baked, souped, various meals.
The yogurt front needed a boost from Nancy after several weeks of homemade. The flour may become bread. The big size seen here isn't often available. Cooking with Will Yeung uses up rice, so there's reinforcements.
The ground turkey will be burgers soon, and spaghetti sauce, and the chicken will be in the depths of the freezer till I need chicken again. Mozzarella because it's a melting change from cheddar. Future toasted cheese sandwiches.
I also found a good chickpea pasta dish which I'll try with the fettuccine currently in the freezer. It can work with my other favorite, cannellini beans, too. Hummus because it's been a while since I had any I hadn't made. And I've been out of vanilla forever, high time.
Nice haul, and as usual, great quality.
Early voting in North Carolina is booming. Huge turnout. Many anecdotal reports of GOP voting Harris, had it with the wannabe dictator. They may split their ticket, so we can't count on their Senate yet, but we'll see.
Ticket-splitting, for blogistas in furrin parts, unfamiliar, is where you vote one party for one or more offices, another for other positions.
There are usually a lot of offices up for voting in a Presidential year because they seize on voters who don't turn out for the midterms and other elections. Unlike immigrants who make sure they're heard in everyone election no matter what's up for decision. President or dog warden, hear our voices.
In primaries many states only permit registered party affiliates to vote, in their own party primary, some variation across states.
But in Presidential elections you vote freely any candidate, any party, you choose. And you can usually, in any election, write in the name of someone not on the printed ballot.
That is some haul from Misfits. I don’t think I even knew about white sweet potatoes. Awful chipmunk stories. I only ever saw them as adorable. Beautiful photos!
ReplyDeleteMy Indian friends prefer the white sweet potatoes over yellow, so thanks to them, I think, they've become available. Chipmunks are varmints!
DeleteFortunately the chipmunks here have never caused me any problems at all. They are very well behaved, quite unlike the raccoon who tried to set up house in my attic. She never paid rent and was an expensive tenant to evict!
ReplyDeleteYou don't need a raccoon in your attic! Sounds like a joke.
DeletePond photos are nice.
ReplyDeleteIt's educational about what damage chipmunks can do. Aside from rats chewing through home electric home wiring, we don't have too many other critters to do damage...that is unless your home is clad in western red cedar, whereby cockatoos may chew up all your exterior boards in your absence, and do it just for fun.
Cockatoos are an expensive pet here, an expensive nuisance there!
DeleteFelt compelled to add my chipmunk damage testimony. I love the cute little critters BUT -- had an expensive auto repair when one stored sunflower seeds up under my car's gas tank and then nibbled a hole in the gas line. Also, years ago I sprained an ankle when I stepped into a chipmunk hole in the lawn.
ReplyDeleteYes, what with storing food and chewing through pipes and wires, they're a force to be reckoned with!
DeleteBut ... chipmunks are so cute. I have never before heard stories like this, and they are alarming. We have one or two who hang around out back.
ReplyDeleteJust don't let them in!
DeleteI know squirrels can wreak havoc if they get into a house's attic, but I didn't realize chipmunks are equally dangerous, although of course they are.
ReplyDeleteThey're just smaller and cuter, but just as wild.
DeleteI've never heard of squirrels causing THAT much damage. Yes, they can indeed chew through wires and make messes but chewing through PVC? Now I'm glad we don't have those cute little critters.
ReplyDeleteI have seen white sweet potatoes in the store but have never tasted them. Please let us know what you think about their taste.
I've had the white sweet potatoes before, local shops catering to Indian taste, and they're really different from the yellow, to me like halfway between white potatoes and yellow sweets. The texture is finer, taste more delicate. I'm going to bake one for lunch to go with the second half of my tomato, mozzarella egg bake, and I'll report back.
Deleteearly voting starts on Monday here. small red town but I have only seen 3 Trump signs where before there were many and flags and 4 Harris signs. although I did see a pro Trump billboard on the hwy heading into the city.
ReplyDeleteno chipmunks here, just squirrels which the dog and cat keep at bay though I do set out peanuts for them after they nearly killed both my gingko trees by stripping the bark off the limbs during a particularly hot and dry summer when the pecan trees and oaks were not producing.
Dogs are helpful squirrel deterrents. I'm hopeful about Texas. Do you think Allred has a chance? He did an excellent debate.
DeleteThose are some disaster stories! We have red squirrels but I don't see chipmunks. I also never heard of white sweet potatoes. I'll check those out.
ReplyDeleteChipmunks are best in nature videos. Let us know how you like white sweet potatoes when you try them.
DeleteMany states, from what I've read, have restrictions on write in candidates where you can write in name, but it may not count unless the write in candidate registers their name first.
ReplyDeleteRodents are known to chew on wires. Scary stuff
I wonder if that restriction on write in is to avoid pranks.
DeleteWe grown three varieties of sweet potato: Carolina Ruby (standard orange), Japanese (purple skin, white inside) and purple (purple all the way through). They are indeed all different in taste and texture. Our only difficulty is in curing them properly. After harvest, for best flavor an storage, they need to cure for a couple of weeks at 85 degrees F and high humidity, and then sit around at room temps for another month to finish converting starches to sugars. That just doesn't happen in desert southern Idaho in October (sayeth she who is huddling in turtleneck and vest at 11 am). Still, they taste pretty good by Thanksgiving, and most keep until late winter before sprouting.
ReplyDeleteI am a big chipmunk fan as long as they stay OUTSIDE.
Your photos from your stroll are very autumnal. Glad you found time for a walk.
Chris from Boise
You're serious about your sweet potatoes. Mine are tan outside, cream inside, taste like a delicate version of the orange.
DeleteWe had squirrels squatting in our lift when we moved here. Mr T soon sorted that out on the inside and we located the entry point and sorted that on the outside. They made a heck of a mess of chewed up rafters. I'm so pleased we don't have chipmunks. In NZ its possum (the Ozzie marsupial brushtail possum type) that are furry, not cute, and do loads of damage.
ReplyDeletePeople here are aware the hard way of squirrel damage, but chipmunks take them by surprise.
DeleteI vote in every election, and I've never understood why others don't. Political careers begin on the local level, after all, and local decisions are likely to affect many of us even more than national ones! Or at least more immediately.
ReplyDeleteThose sound like particularly bad chipmunk incidents! I think Disney made a popular documentary about chipmunks in the '50s. Or maybe it was squirrels. Pretty sure I watched it on TV (in reruns) as a kid.
Yes, people start locally before they rise politically. It helps if they're already connected, though.
DeleteGoodness! I had no idea chipmunks could be such trouble. Thankfully we don't have them here.
ReplyDeleteThey're mostly cute, but they do have their moments. I'm careful to keep screen doors closed even when I'm coming back and forth. That way we can coexist.
DeleteOn those chipmunks are very naughty indeed. I’m very glad we don’t have them here.
ReplyDeleteAlthough we have pluvas and magpies who swoop during mating season. They’re very dangerous as they have hurt and permanent maimed people.
Your misfits box is once again full of lovely healthy food.
We all have our wildlife issues!
DeleteI remember my grandmother made sweet potato pie with white sweet potatoes. She grew them. Deep South. Milder and suited me because I never liked the look of orange pie filling. No to orange pumpkin and sweet potatoes. Haven’t seen another ever. NR
ReplyDeleteI must look for a recipe, thanks for mentioning your grandmother.
DeleteWe had indoor/outdoor cats who kept the chipmunks at bay. But in the end all the cats were indoor, and boy, did the chipper population balloon! Little devils burrowed under everything.
ReplyDeleteWe have a dog next door and I think she helps.
DeleteI LOVE Cranford. My grandparents gave me a leatherbound copy for my 7th birthday and I have read it over and over and over again.
ReplyDeleteI'm liking it much more this time around. The humor is working for me now. Do you like other Gaskells?
DeleteI do but Cranford is my favourite.
DeleteGosh, voting sounds quite complicated.
ReplyDeleteIn practice it's simple. Fill in the circles with black ink, sign, put in envelopes, send. Most voters don't need to know the things I explained, those are the architecture of the system.
DeleteWhoa. Feeling thankful my challenging experiences with chipmunks were that when living in town they dug in my flower pots - making a mess, more than hurting anything. Living for the time being in a country neighborhood, they don't seem to be nearly as prolific as they were in town. I suppose hawks and owls may have something to do with that.
ReplyDeleteWe have very active hawks, but the chipmunks are still around. Great hiding skills maybe.
Delete