Chipmunks and seeds and rain, oh my....

It's back to raining again today...and yesterday...and while our weather could be so much worse, it's getting tiresome.  We still have spring gardening work to do between raindrops and the weeds are getting a big jump on us.  I will have photos to share as soon as we get some good weather, the gardens are growing well and the annuals were planted yesterday: mammoth sunflowers, cleome, tithonia, cosmos, zinnia and flax.  I actually planted them in a little bed in the back of the house between the chimney and the water barrel, it's up about sixteen or eighteen inches off the ground which will keep the rabbits out and Carl installed one of our famous 'removable' fences in front to keep out the deer.  But this morning, 24 hours after planting, the chipmunks had already dug holes in it.  We've purchased extra large containers of cayenne pepper that works but must be reapplied after every rain and it rains and rains and rains.

On a cheerful note, the baby bluebirds have all hatched, the first was on my birthday on Saturday.  Mom and dad have to hustle to feed five, especially when the rain keeps the insects hiding.  The dove that was nesting on the 2x4 is gone and so is her eggs.  She had built a nest inside the clematis but the winds blew the clematis over and exposed her nest.  I don't know what happened to the eggs, perhaps another bird got them, they were not due to hatch for a week yet.  It amazes me the dove population is as high as it is, they really choose bad locations for nesting.

And on a sad note:  Sadie has started marking around the doors, and food dishes again.  We had spread out the dishes in each bathroom so each cat could eat in peace, but this morning I found Sadie had peed on my bath mat and shower curtain where she eats and peed on the washer in the laundry room where Sassy eats.  That started a check of the house and we found she had peed on the front door, too.  We have had Sadie on meds for about a year because of this issue.  When she's drugged, she doesn't mark, she's calmer and less aggravated.  We had thought when we weaned her off of the meds that the issue had gone away.  But, now she hisses and growls at us; not all the time, but enough that it gets old.  She won't allow us to remove knots or groom her.  We've been hearing more snits between the cats lately, if one comes around the corner and encounters the other one, there's hissing and growling, mostly from Sadie.  We hate to think we have to go back on meds, but sending her back to the no-kill shelter is the only other option.  We can't keep cleaning up cat pee especially when the other cat wants to do it, too.