More Critter Control

On Sunday, after church at Trinity, Alpena, and shopping for fixin's for black bean soup at Walmart, I spent a pleasant afternoon working on the critter barrier for the porches.  I started this project a few days ago, but had to lay in more hardware cloth.  This wire mesh is surprisingly expensive — about $50 for a 4'x75' roll.  However, it's heavy duty material and should keep unwanted house-hunters at bay.  As the photo below will show, on Sunday I fenced off the lake side of the porch.  Today I'll complete the job by sealing up the openings around the steps.  For this I'll use chicken wire, since it's more flexible (and cheaper!).

The west side is screened.
Below, the 1/4-inch mesh
is linked by cable ties.

The need is certainly there.  My outdoor floodlights are motion-activated, and when I came downstairs this morning, the flood on the southwest corner of the house was on.  Something — a deer or skunk or other critter — had wandered by and tripped the lights.

Critter barrier isn't the most attractive addition to the house, but it's a common practice here.  After weighing down the mesh with rocks to keep it in place, I'll probably plant something in front which will grow up and disguise it, at least in summer.

My other task today is to re-stack the birch firewood.  I think I mentioned earlier that the stack is leaning forward and will likely fall unless I do something.  That's one of the problems of stacking wood on an uneven surface, in this case the forest floor.  Once the stack is fixed, I'll finish assembling my wood bins and get back to splitting firewood.  However, I'll have to retrieve my splitter from Attila.  He borrowed it a few days ago and reports himself well satisfied with its performance.

As I was driving through Alpena yesterday I noticed that North Shore Home Furnishings was having an "emergency" sale.  I popped in and ended up buying a recliner for the office upstairs.  This was a purchase I'd anticipated, but one I'd decided to put off for awhile.  However, a nearly 50% off sale proved too much to resist.

The weather has been wonderful.  Sunny and 70s is predicted for today and tomorrow... and then the temperature starts to fall and rain moves in on Thursday and Friday.  So... I'll enjoy this High Indian Summer while it lasts. •••