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Clark County Mini-Tour

It is a rare rainy day here in August (or more accurately, a wet, drizzly day). That means a break from watering and a good chance to catch up on blogging and other computer-related tasks. Before I continue with my England tour highlights, I wanted to share photos from this past Sunday's mini-tour of four gardens here in Clark County (an event sponsored by HPSO - Hardy Plant Society of Oregon). I saw three of the gardens on Sunday. I had already visited the fourth one, Lynne Heidsiek's native habitat garden, when she was part of the Study Weekend tour that we were on.  Our first stop was the marvelous shade garden of Margaret Stapenhorst. A bluestone patio is surrounded by towering mature trees that shade a woodland garden. There was a fern table and a moss garden, as well as garden art by Steve Farris. Loved, loved the waterfall. This is what I'd like to do in our front garden, but I don't know if we have the room. Just a few streets over is the garden of Eloise and Bo...
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Raccoon Round-Up

At first I thought they were cute. I started observing the little masked varmints about a year ago in my garden, usually at night, but increasingly during the day as well. I let the little guys go about their business and I’m sure our habit of throwing scraps out was welcoming to them. As long as they didn’t hurt my cat – they were fine with me. After all, I am a big animal lover.

About a month ago, I saw three baby raccoons playing around my waterfall. Adorable.


Then things started to get out of hand. They wouldn’t leave my birdfeeders alone and they have broken several, some beyond repair. Heck, the hummingbird feeders aren’t even safe because they love the nectar! Then we started hearing sounds in our attic. At first we thought it was probably squirrels but now we are wondering if it is the raccoons. That mystery is still not solved yet. Last week, I stepped outside to feed Isabella and heard a commotion of scurrying. I stepped back inside and observed a mother and five baby raccoons descending on the food dish. Okay, enough is enough! Our home is becoming "Grey Gardens II"!!!


My sister had loaned me a small cage trap so I tried to capture them but soon realized that the trap was too small. I called Animal Control yesterday and picked up a larger cage after leaving a $50 deposit. Last night I baited the cages and am happy to report that I caught three of them. They are crafty little buggers so this was not as easy as it sounds. I thought the mother would never go inside the cage and it was past 11 before she was captured. I took them out to a wooded area and creek about five miles from our house and released them. That is 3 down and 4 to go! Or at least 4 that I am aware of. The cages are baited tonight. I’m ready for action!

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  1. AnonymousJuly 28, 2007 at 12:13 AM

    Hey Phillip.
    Quite interesting about your Raccoon problem. I am sure you will be successful in rounding them all up in time. Watch out for those squirrels as well. They can do some considerable damage as they like bird feeders and attics just the same. That is speaking from experience on the squirrels as we had quite the bunch to roundup in our previous home as well. DW

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  2. SandyJuly 28, 2007 at 7:56 PM

    Just out surfing and stumbled across your blog. Beautiful garden and photography:).

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  3. CatherineAugust 16, 2007 at 10:56 AM

    I have a cat door that leads from my garage to the outside world. Recently I have heard some sounds in the garage that were not familiar. RACCOONS! I agree, they are real cute, but as you stated, things can get out of hand. I hope when your relocate these varmits that they are appreciative of your humane treatment of them...I am. :)

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