Where we live now, we have a chain link fence around our house. It's kind of secure, not really. I have more confidence in our dogs than that fence. Unfortunately our dogs are friends with some of our acquaintances that have no problem with stealing from us. Someone who we hired to feed our dogs while we were on furlough a couple years ago stole some things from our shed while we were gone. He had built up such a rapport with our dogs that even after we returned he was still jumping our fence and trying to take more stuff. Well last week Jimmy bought 2 storage tubs from a hardware store here in town. They were much cheaper than usual and had mismatched lids (the same colors that we have mismatched in reverse among the tubs we already own.) Well Jimmy opened one of the tubs when he got home and found an old door stop of ours. Yes people... we just bought back the tubs that were stolen from us a couple years earlier. Our life is so ironic, it makes me laugh all the time! At least they were cheaper this time around.
We have another type of intruder. Our property has a ditch around it on three sides. These ditches are filled with weeds. Neighbors from all over tie up their goats and horses and all kinds of other 4 legged beasts to our fence to feed on our weeds. Well... that angers Lucha and Fije. There is one very ornery nanny goat that loves to irritate Lucha. She just eggs her on.
She was waiting at the gate one morning when I was leaving. As soon as I opened the gate she stepped inside the fence and immediately peed all over Lucha's territory. I know that was intentional. I then had to separate her and Lu before I could shut the gate. Then the dumb goat kept beating on the gate with her horns. Lucha bit her in the head several times and even grabbed her horns with her teeth to sling her around. But the dumb goat kept beating on the gate with her horns. I yelled at the goat a bit but then I decided if the goat dies it's her own fault, so I drove off.
The fourth side of our yard is our neighbors. The owner of our house built it WAY too close to the fence. Our neighbors used to burn their garbage right outside our kitchen window. That was a little bit of culture shock for us! Thankfully they finally stopped.
this may be a dumb question, but why would ticks jump off a warm body (a food source) to a wall? Also, when you said you swept dead ticks off the wall, did you spray something on them to kill them?
ReplyDeleteOops, didn't mean to post anonymously. My name is Amy and my family is moving to Costa Rica next month.
ReplyDeleteHi! I'm glad you posted again because I meant to reply to your first comment, but I got distracted.
DeleteIn the past the ticks that jump off our dogs and onto our floors or walls are usually full of blood. I would assume these were too, but I didn't pop any to find out. We only know about the others because we have accidentally stepped on them many times and they burst. They are usually pretty large... lovely! My husband did spray the walls and floors first with some bug spray for crawling bugs. They all appeared to be dead before I swept them. Usually we don't spray though because I don't like it around my children's toys.
Costa Rica! Hope you like your new home!