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The Weekly Gardening Thread is a weekly gathering of folks that love soil, seeds and plants of all kinds. From complete newbies that are looking to start that first potted plant, to gardeners with some acreage, to Master Gardener level and beyond, we would love to hear from you. If you have specific question about a plant/problem you are having, please remember to state the Growing Zone where you are located. This thread is a non-political respite. No matter what, you won’t be flamed, and the only dumb question is the one that isn’t asked. It is impossible to hijack...

VIDEOA few days ago I looked outside and spotted these two squirrels, Chip 'n' Dale, on my patio. Yeah, I know they are not chipmunks but what else was I going to call them? One interesting thing that I wasn't able to record is that they finally got used to me enough that in my second attempt to approach them without the window barrier, they allowed me to pick them up but they didn't seem crazy about the idea so I quickly put them back down. Finally they perform a rather surprising encore.

A 71-year old Iowa City, Iowa, man was fined $855 for shooting and injuring a U.S. Marine with an air rifle in October 2021. In April, Philip Olson, who claimed he was hunting a squirrel, pleaded guilty to the misdemeanor crime after turning himself in to the police, violating a local ordinance prohibiting the discharge of toy guns and slingshots, according to the Iowa City Press-Citizen. He accidentally shot 20-year-old Lance Cpl. Gabe Heefner in the head while the Marine was driving by, leaving the Marine severely injured.

In this video, Learn how to keep squirrels out of your garden, the ONE thing that works, and all of the others that do not.

The trial of a Limestone County, Alabama, man who allegedly kept a squirrel supplied with methamphetamine to make it attack people has been delayed. Mickey Joel Paulk’s trial was scheduled to start Monday, but it was continued until Feb. 28, according to court documents. Paulk faces charges for possession of a wild animal, stolen property and possession of a weapon by a felon. He was arrested in June 2019. Paulk, 39, has other charges to deal with, too, according to court records. He was arrested Dec. 23, 2021, on charges of chemical endangerment of a child and trafficking methamphetamine, as...

UK residents were left reeling after a crazed gray squirrel went on a wild Christmas rampage in Buckley, Wales, injuring a staggering 18 people in two days. “Warning, vicious squirrel that attacks,” wrote Nicola Crowther in the Buckley Residents Facebook Group on Dec. 26 along with a grainy photo of the furry culprit on a fencepost. “Has bitten me, attacked my friend … and multiple other people.” Another bite recipient, Sheree Davidson, told SWNS that she was taking out the recycling when the “psycho” squirrel jumped out at her from behind the bins and chomped her on the hand. The...

The N.C. Wildlife Resources Commission and Backcountry Hunters & Anglers will offer a free online squirrel hunting webinar on Jan. 6 from 7-8 p.m. Topics will include species habits, habitats, scouting, essential equipment, effective shot placement, hunting strategies, cleaning, cooking techniques and dish ideas. The class will conclude with an interactive question and answer session. “The webinar is open to all skill levels,” said R3 Hunting Specialist Walter “Deet” James. “However, it’s especially intended for people who have never hunted and lack access to a hunting mentor.” Space is limited and pre-registration online is required. Participants will receive a Zoom...

IN 1722, A PET SQUIRREL named Mungo passed away. It was a tragedy: Mungo escaped its confines and met its fate at the teeth of a dog. Benjamin Franklin, friend of the owner, immortalized the squirrel with a tribute. “Few squirrels were better accomplished, for he had a good education, had traveled far, and seen much of the world.” Franklin wrote, adding, “Thou art fallen by the fangs of wanton, cruel Ranger!” Mourning a squirrel’s death wasn’t as uncommon as you might think when Franklin wrote Mungo’s eulogy; in the 18th- and 19th centuries, squirrels were fixtures in American homes,...

Russian President Vladimir Putin made warm remarks toward the Democratic Party during an interview this week, saying that the Democratic Party and the Communist Party have similar values and that President Donald Trump has been tough Russia. “It was unclear what [Putin’s] goals were — Christopher A. Wray, the director of the F.B.I., warned a House committee last month that Russia was actively pursuing a disinformation campaign against Joseph R. Biden Jr.,” The New York Times reported, “but one possibility was that Mr. Putin was reaching out in case Mr. Biden, who leads in the polls, wins the election.” Putin...

The Presbyterian church called a meeting to decide what to do about their squirrel infestation. After much prayer and consideration, they concluded that the squirrels were predestined to be there, and they shouldn't interfere with God's divine will. At the Baptist church the squirrels had taken an interest in the baptistery. The deacons met and decided to put a water-slide on the baptistery and let the squirrels drown themselves. The squirrels liked the slide and unfortunately, knew instinctively how to swim, so twice as many squirrels showed up the following week. The Lutheran church decided that they were not in...

It was shortly after the new year when Jim Holton, owner of Mountain Town Station, sent word of an unusual critter roaming around the grounds of his restaurants at 506 W. Broadway just west of downtown Mt. Pleasant. He reported seeing a white squirrel. A quick search of the grounds by Morning Sun staff turned up lots of snow and not much else during a chilly hour-long search. It became a mild winter obsession. Reports were made of the animal on different parts of the ground: near the garbage receptacles in the back, behind Water Works Salon, 502 W. Broadway,...

Armed Services Committee member Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) on Monday called for the panel to hold a hearing to investigate U.S. strategy in the 18-year Afghanistan War following a damning report that senior U.S. officials knowingly lied to the public for years about the country's progress in the conflict. “We all read today, the striking reporting by The Washington Post, suggesting that administration officials, potentially including military officials, have misled the American public about the war in Afghanistan. I am writing to request hearings to address these deeply concerning revelations about the Afghan war,” Gillibrand wrote in a letter to...

snip... Like many animals with unusual color schemes, black squirrels are the result of a genetic detour. Researchers at Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge University, and the Virginia Museum of Natural History collaborated on a project that tested squirrel DNA. Their findings, which were published in BMC Evolutionary Biology, demonstrated that the black squirrel is the product of interspecies breeding between the common gray squirrel and the fox squirrel. The black squirrel is actually a gray squirrel with a faulty pigment gene carried over from the fox squirrel that turns their fur a darker shade. (Some fox squirrels, which are usually...

A photographer from India has captured several incredible images of the Malabar giant squirrel that have gone viral after being posted to social media. The squirrel, known for its multicolored fur and its large size, became an internet sensation after 39-year-old Kaushik Vijayan took the pictures deep in the forests of India, capturing the animal in its native habitat. The amateur photographer, who works in finance in Saudi Arabia, said he was astonished by the appearance of the multi-colored squirrel, as were his friends. "It was when I shared some of the photographs on social media many of my friends...

For the past few weeks, usually in the middle of the night, I have been hearing some kind of animal running around, scratching, etc. in my attic. I asked the maintenance guys to go up into the attic to have a look for damage, points of entry, etc. They went up there and reported no holes. They had put a small Havahart trap up there baited with peanut butter, but nothing was caught in there. I told them to remove that, as I didn't want anything getting trapped and then starving. I threw a bunch of bags of mothballs up...

When someone says squirrels you'd think of those small size rodent-like creatures with their bushy tails. Jumping and running across from trees to trees, squirrels make for cute creatures hunting for their nuts more often. But residents in North Carolina can spot some oddity in and around Robeson County. Going by the recent pictures posted by state wildlife officials there are 2-foot tall squirrels in the area. Baby Squirrel Taken into Police Custody After Chasing a Man in Germany.

Prince William has revealed that his father, Prince Charles, is absolutely obsessed with a certain type of squirrel. “He is completely infatuated by the red squirrels that live around the [Birkhall] estate in Scotland,” Prince William told Country Life in a special edition of the British weekly guest-edited by Prince Charles himself. He added that the Prince of Whales likes them, “to the extent that he’s given them names and is allowing them into the house.”Prince Charles, who celebrated his 70th birthday Wednesday, noted that the rodents are “incredibly special creatures.”

According to a recently-uncovered medical case from 2015, one man may have died after eating one too many squirrels. His penchant for squirrel meat seems to have inadvertently exposed him to an incredibly rare fatal brain disorder, the first time this disorder was ever contracted in the United States. Creutzfeldt–Jakob disease is a rare brain disorder caused by misfolding brain proteins called prions. Prion proteins are unique in that when one is misfolded, it causes other prion proteins to misfold too. These misfolded proteins are unable to function properly, and the result is that the victim suffers from memory loss,...

WHITEFIELD — A “huge feral cat problem” on Townhouse Road — to the tune of up to 100 such felines — could affect the health of domestic animals and people who come in contact with them, an animal control officer told selectmen last week. Ben Cook, a Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department animal control officer assigned to Whitefield, discussed the issue at last week’s selectboard meeting, saying he’d noticed the problem about two weeks ago. A town resident, however, said it began more than a year ago.

There’s a bumper crop of squirrels in New England, and the frenetic critters are frustrating farmers by chomping their way through apple orchards, pumpkin patches and corn fields. The varmints are fattening themselves for winter while destroying the crops with bite marks. Robert Randall, who has a 60-acre orchard in Standish, Maine, said he’s never seen anything like it. “They’re eating the pumpkins. They’re eating the apples. They’re raising some hell this year. It’s the worst I’ve ever seen,” he said. Evidence of the squirrel population explosion is plain to see along New England’s highways, where the critters are becoming...