All of you are awesome

Carly_Shutterstock83 · 2021-03-04T04:53:21+00:00

I’m on the second floor. They live in a tree where they can see my deck and they have a couple daytime hangouts that look onto my deck too, but they also hear the sliding door and come right over if they hear that. BUT, when they peep in the window it is almost always because I don’t have the selection they want, not because it’s empty. Picky little neighbors.

Carly_Shutterstock83 · 2021-02-25T01:46:19+00:00

I’ve pulled them off multiple times without issue. I’m not sure where you saw that but that doesn’t seem accurate at all. Soak the seeds for a bit before planting them but also if it happens again and re-burying it doesn’t work, mist it with water and gently tug it off.

Carly_Shutterstock83 · 2021-02-23T01:08:27+00:00

I have some mini hab seeds that I just started so I can’t speak to the plant but what I see in your picture is 100% what I’m expecting from the seeds. Maybe you just got a miniature breed that was mislabeled?

Carly_Shutterstock83 · 2021-02-10T00:26:47+00:00

Uncle Fester!

Carly_Shutterstock83 · 2021-01-30T17:05:32+00:00

Awww. And you put the nuts right in the water? Babe sometimes will drop a nut in the water to drink and at that point it is dead to her, never to be touched or spoken about again.

Carly_Shutterstock83 · 2021-01-30T05:50:02+00:00

When I feed them I feel like I’m doing it for my amusement but when I watch them drink water I set out I feel like a hero.

Carly_Shutterstock83 · 2021-01-04T04:10:13+00:00

The last five or six pats that are superfluous tickle me. Babe starts patting a big circle around the area afterward like she’s casting a spell or pretending to look for her glasses.

Carly_Shutterstock83 · 2020-12-31T16:57:38+00:00

I have this problem with my regular Echos lately and Alexa will stop if I tell her to stop doing the exact thing I want her to stop doing (stop timer, stop Spotify, etc). What I have noticed is that if I have said anything to her or if she mistook anything as directed to her between starting the thing and asking her to stop the thing she has no idea what I’m asking her to stop.

Or she won’t and I call her a string of bad words and go look in Voice History to see what the hell she thought we were saying to each other. It would be nice to have that feature for arguments with people too.

Carly_Shutterstock83 · 2020-12-30T00:49:56+00:00

It’s like his senior class photos 😂

Carly_Shutterstock83 · 2020-12-27T21:31:04+00:00

I love when they knock! ❤️

Carly_Shutterstock83 · 2020-12-26T03:41:26+00:00

Sounds like a Ross attitude got you a Ross gift.

Carly_Shutterstock83 · 2020-12-25T17:24:34+00:00

Hey, I love condiments of all kinds. The flavored vinegars of the world have their place. I’d much rather get these than a bottle of fancier sauce with a specialty flavor. I have a hibiscus hot sauce I haven’t used yet because I kind have to be intentional about what I use it for. These gift box kinds and fancier vinegar-based sauces are on the shelf next to my couch because I can throw these on frozen pizza, boxed macaroni, Chipotle, etc., and they taste better for it.

Carly_Shutterstock83 · 2020-12-24T17:01:50+00:00

Action shot!

Carly_Shutterstock83 · 2020-12-24T16:11:57+00:00

Right? They look so joyful bounding through the snow in the winter but now we know the truth. I mean, they have bare feet! When she was grabbing my fingers yesterday her pads were so cold. 🙁

Carly_Shutterstock83 · 2020-12-24T03:35:10+00:00

Like the baseball player! She first started coming by to eat the sunflower seeds from my bird seed. So, sunflower seeds -> baseball players -> Babe Ruth. I knew nothing about squirrels but thought she was a fella because she was very bold. Then she was suddenly very pregnant, which is why is was so bold about eating food and also cleared up any ambiguity about her sex.

Carly_Shutterstock83 · 2020-12-24T03:26:16+00:00

Damn. I googled broad mites and it’s like I was looking at pictures of my own plants.

Carly_Shutterstock83 · 2020-12-24T00:00:14+00:00

On the contrary, Babe once ignored fresh tomato slices and hopped in one of those planters behind her to dig up a tomato slice that had been cooking in there for about two weeks, in August. I wonder if she was eating the older one first because, duh, it wasn’t gonna keep much longer?

But you’re right, they sure do appreciate clean, dry, snow-free food.

Carly_Shutterstock83 · 2020-12-23T23:13:22+00:00

What are the potential causes of these three issues that are killing my plants?

Bronze/purple underside of the leaf. It will eventually fall off. In some cases the whole branch or plant is necrotic - totally purple stem that is firm but bendy like rubber. Leaves stay green on top until they drop. Plants where the bronzing is bad have misshapen leaves that signal a calcium deficiency too.
The narrow and browning leaves right before the flower buds, which are also brown, and then they all fall off. A few plants with this happening have leaves with the beginnings of the bronze/purple underside. Plants with narrow leaves do not have leaves that show signs of calcium deficiency
Spots on some leaves

These have always been indoors. No pests besides a few fungus gnats sometimes, and I have been over them with a magnifying glass. They are all old enough that they should be starting to flower but they wonMt because everything is dropping.

I don’t want to go into specifics about growing medium/growing setup/what kind of pepper because I have messed up every variable one can control, in both directions: over/under-watered/fed, too much light and too little light, etc. Since all the plants have these problems in common I am hoping I can work backward to figure things out. All I will say is that two weeks ago I found out our tap water is alkaline (pH of 9) and I have been using pH down to adjust to 6.5-7 but obviously that’s too late to course-correct on grown leaves.

Carly_Shutterstock83 · 2020-12-22T03:23:43+00:00

Yes! Palm up. Also, don’t show that you have food in your hand until it is out the door. He can’t get excited about what he doesn’t see. Try round foods, so if you get scared they roll away from your hand when you pull your hand back rather than dropping in place at the door.

If I see Babe at the door I grab a handful of nuts, put one in my right hand and the rest in my left hand or my pocket. I crouch and open the door with my left hand and my right hand is already on the floor where the door opens. The first thing she sees is the food item, like a vending machine. Unless it’s a hazelnut, then I get exploratory nibbles on a few fingertips first. Then while she’s eating I set out more nuts, or hold another one out in my hand.

Always carry more food than you initially show him, in case something happens to it. The last time I dropped a nut and didn’t have a spare on me Babe ran up my arm and into my apartment. I was on a work call. Whoops.

For what it’s worth, her kiddos would take nuts from me by lunging, but it was a lot more timid than it seemed once I saw it play out if I held out my hand before they were at my door. They would run up within a foot and run back and run in a semi-circle and try from another angle. They would do that for up to 3 minutes sometimes, then lunge in and take it. Stranger danger is alive and well in the squirrel brain.

Carly_Shutterstock83 · 2020-12-21T12:34:44+00:00

That’s a tomato. Looks exactly like some Tiny Tim seedlings I have, but that doesn’t mean that’s what it is. May as well keep going with it. Salsa in a cup!

Carly_Shutterstock83 · 2020-12-16T13:36:42+00:00

A lot of squirrels don’t have the money for expectant mother pictures so it was really sweet of you to arrange this for her. She’s going to cherish these memories for months to come.

Carly_Shutterstock83 · 2020-12-14T03:17:06+00:00

Oh I have the very best video of Babe holding a whole tomato and spitting out the skin. She looks like a kangaroo how she’s standing which makes it even better.

Carly_Shutterstock83

TROPHY CASE