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Jun 22, 2015 11:05 AM CST
Thread OP
Name: Greg
Lake Forest Park, Washington (Zone 8b)
Garden Ideas: Level 1
I see this type of "dig" in both potted and in-ground plants. It's just a shallow dig, like a dog would make, but much smaller, and they never appear to be after the plants. I think it's squirrels, and up until now I've just ignored them, but now it's messing with my Golden Japanese Forest grass.
Thumb of 2015-06-22/Brinybay/123e78
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Jun 22, 2015 11:12 AM CST
Name: greene
Savannah, GA (Sunset 28) (Zone 8b)
I have no use for internet bullies!
Avid Green Pages Reviewer Keeper of Poultry Vegetable Grower Rabbit Keeper Frugal Gardener Garden Ideas: Master Level
Plant Identifier Region: Georgia Native Plants and Wildflowers Composter Garden Sages Bookworm
Are there rabbits nearby? Rabbits are forever digging shallow holes everywhere in my yard.
Sunset Zone 28, AHS Heat Zone 9, USDA zone 8b~"Leaf of Faith"
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Jun 22, 2015 1:57 PM CST
Name: Donald
Eastland county, Texas (Zone 8a)
Raises cows Enjoys or suffers hot summers Region: Texas Plant Identifier
I'd guess rabbits. Cottontails do it and sometimes when a Jackrabbit does it you'd think you'd have been visited by a stray dog! What kind of native rabbits/hares are in your area?
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Jun 25, 2015 11:14 PM CST
Name: Lori Bright
San Luis Obispo, California (Zone 7a)
Roses Vegetable Grower Cottage Gardener Lover of wildlife (Black bear badge) Keeps Goats
Squirrels will dig up bulbs and move them to other hording spots. Sometimes they will deliver new plants to your existing pots. Skunks dig for grubs and make similar holes. Bunnies could be the culprit, or even a large bird could be the scoundrel! I have all of these visitors and more at my place. I have motion-sensor impulse sprinklers that go off, Scary Halloween masks that sing and their eyes light-up red and for the fun of it, I have a DVR motion-sensor recorder. This way one can watch the rascals as they demolish potted plants, garden greens and just-ready-to-eat fruits. You'd be amazed at the visitors that stop by while we sleep. The little DVR recorder was only 70 bucks. Well worth the fun.
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Jun 26, 2015 5:39 AM CST
Name: Juli
Ohio (Zone 6a)
Region: United States of America Charter ATP Member Cottage Gardener Daylilies Garden Photography Enjoys or suffers cold winters
Birds Hummingbirder Butterflies Dog Lover Cat Lover Garden Ideas: Master Level
Would you mind sharing more about you DVR recorder? Brand, model?

I was thinking about a trail camera like hunters use to monitor around my house. I borrowed three kinds from a hunter I know. They would take pictures of nothing. Or my motion detectors would go off, but the cameras would not have taken any photos. And those cameras are $200 or more!
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Jun 26, 2015 6:48 PM CST
Name: Sandy B.
Ford River Twp, Michigan UP (Zone 4b)
(Zone 4b-maybe 5a)
Charter ATP Member Bee Lover Butterflies Birds I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! Million Pollinator Garden Challenge
Seed Starter Vegetable Grower Greenhouse Region: United States of America Region: Michigan Enjoys or suffers cold winters
That DVR recorder really does sound like fun ! (Maybe I could finally find out what the heck our dogs bark about all the time... but from what I've seen it can be anything from a mouse walking out of the woods, to a raven in the yard, to one of our own cats - which the dogs like but apparently don't recognize at a distance. Rolling my eyes. )
“Think occasionally of the suffering of which you spare yourself the sight." ~ Albert Schweitzer
C/F temp conversion
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Jun 26, 2015 7:03 PM CST
Greencastle IN (Zone 5b)
Daylilies Hummingbirder Lilies Region: Indiana Dog Lover Echinacea
Butterflies Birds Lover of wildlife (Raccoon badge) Garden Photography Garden Ideas: Level 2 Celebrating Gardening: 2015
I want to get one for our yard!! We go to bed in the winter and there are no tracks in the fresh snow. We get up in the morning and it looks like the whole neighborhood went thru! I have looked at the window at night or been out in the yard and seen deer, fox, coyotes, rabbits, opossums even a skunk.
“Once in a while it really hits people that they don’t have to experience the world in the way they have been told to.”
- Alan Keightley
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Jun 26, 2015 7:28 PM CST
Name: greene
Savannah, GA (Sunset 28) (Zone 8b)
I have no use for internet bullies!
Avid Green Pages Reviewer Keeper of Poultry Vegetable Grower Rabbit Keeper Frugal Gardener Garden Ideas: Master Level
Plant Identifier Region: Georgia Native Plants and Wildflowers Composter Garden Sages Bookworm
Weedwhacker, my dogs alert when they even smell something...do you think the DVR could be equipped with 'smell-o-vision'? Thumbs up Rolling on the floor laughing

Claudia, Thinking of the critter footprints in the snow reminded me of something. (This proves I am getting old. *Blush* )

The people who lived in the Okefenokee swamp had a method to alert them if any critters had entered their space. They kept the yard around the house completely free of all vegetation, having only sand. Each night just before retiring for the night, someone would rake the sand (think of a Zen sand garden). In the morning the first person awake would look out the window to see if there were any tracks in the sand. "Daddy, I think there is a big snake up under the house."

Okay, the whole truth is that the vegetation-free zone also meant there would be less insects in the house and lessened the risk of fire to the house. I learned this on a visit to the Chesser Island Homestead.
Sunset Zone 28, AHS Heat Zone 9, USDA zone 8b~"Leaf of Faith"
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Jun 28, 2015 9:18 PM CST
Thread OP
Name: Greg
Lake Forest Park, Washington (Zone 8b)
Garden Ideas: Level 1
greene said:Are there rabbits nearby? Rabbits are forever digging shallow holes everywhere in my yard.


Yes, I saw one a few weeks ago.
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Jun 28, 2015 9:29 PM CST
Thread OP
Name: Greg
Lake Forest Park, Washington (Zone 8b)
Garden Ideas: Level 1
needrain said:I'd guess rabbits. Cottontails do it and sometimes when a Jackrabbit does it you'd think you'd have been visited by a stray dog! What kind of native rabbits/hares are in your area?


Nuttall's Cottontail and Pygmy rabbits are native, but there's also Eastern Cottontail Rabbit that is non-native. I believe the one I saw was the Nuttall's Cottontail.
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Jun 30, 2015 12:13 PM CST
Name: Rick Corey
Everett WA 98204 (Zone 8a)
Sunset Zone 5. Koppen Csb. Eco 2f
Frugal Gardener Garden Procrastinator I helped beta test the first seed swap Plant and/or Seed Trader Seed Starter Region: Pacific Northwest
Photo Contest Winner: 2014 Avid Green Pages Reviewer Garden Ideas: Master Level Garden Sages I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! I helped plan and beta test the plant database.
LlamaLlori said: ... I have a DVR motion-sensor recorder. This way one can watch the rascals as they demolish potted plants, garden greens and just-ready-to-eat fruits. You'd be amazed at the visitors that stop by while we sleep. The little DVR recorder was only 70 bucks. Well worth the fun.


I would love to know what model that was. I see many "spy cams" on Amazon, down to $20. It would be great to know of one that works well!

I'm also keeping my eyes open for a cheap video camera that would serve as a magnifying glass / microscope. Like, set it up on a tripod with a macro lens, then send the signal to a TV. Gramps needs new glasses!
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Jun 30, 2015 1:11 PM CST
Name: Mary
Lake Stevens, WA (Zone 8a)
Near Seattle
Bookworm Garden Photography Region: Pacific Northwest Plays in the sandbox Seed Starter Plant and/or Seed Trader
Winter Sowing
I bought a D-Link DCS-933L spy-cam at Staples a month ago, to spy on my new cats and find out if the one I never see is being beaten up. I can watch the live-action on my computer, it even shows a black and white image in near darkness! I turn off the sound. I did not pay for the "cloud" use. If I had I could even watch them on my cell phone. I don't know if it is waterproof. It was not that hard to set up. I am very satisfied with it. It was about $80.
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Jun 30, 2015 4:36 PM CST
Name: Rick Corey
Everett WA 98204 (Zone 8a)
Sunset Zone 5. Koppen Csb. Eco 2f
Frugal Gardener Garden Procrastinator I helped beta test the first seed swap Plant and/or Seed Trader Seed Starter Region: Pacific Northwest
Photo Contest Winner: 2014 Avid Green Pages Reviewer Garden Ideas: Master Level Garden Sages I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! I helped plan and beta test the plant database.
Pistil said:I bought a D-Link DCS-933L spy-cam at Staples a month ago ...
I can watch the live-action on my computer, it even shows a black and white image in near darkness! ...
I don't know if it is waterproof. It was not that hard to set up. I am very satisfied with it. It was about $80.


Thanks, Mary. That sets my upper price point.

Does your D-Link DCS-933L have any "zoom" feature, or maybe an optional, adjustable close-up lens?

I guess it will be more common to see them interface to PCs than to TVs. A USB port is probably cheaper than RCA plugs and video signal electronics.
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Jun 30, 2015 10:09 PM CST
Name: Mary
Lake Stevens, WA (Zone 8a)
Near Seattle
Bookworm Garden Photography Region: Pacific Northwest Plays in the sandbox Seed Starter Plant and/or Seed Trader
Winter Sowing
It's a Bluetooth connection, so is wireless, if you have a bluetooth enabled computer. It zooms to x4, picture still pretty clear, even in very dim light. The lens unit is one piece so I doubt you could buy a pre-made macro lens. However on 'another' website in the photo forum there is a guy in India who describes various lenses he has jury-rigged from binoculars and such. You seem like the kind of guy who could get into that!
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Jul 1, 2015 12:17 PM CST
Name: Rick Corey
Everett WA 98204 (Zone 8a)
Sunset Zone 5. Koppen Csb. Eco 2f
Frugal Gardener Garden Procrastinator I helped beta test the first seed swap Plant and/or Seed Trader Seed Starter Region: Pacific Northwest
Photo Contest Winner: 2014 Avid Green Pages Reviewer Garden Ideas: Master Level Garden Sages I was one of the first 300 contributors to the plant database! I helped plan and beta test the plant database.
Pistil said:... The lens unit is one piece so I doubt you could buy a pre-made macro lens. However on 'another' website in the photo forum there is a guy in India who describes various lenses he has jury-rigged from binoculars and such. You seem like the kind of guy who could get into that!


Mary, you are 100% correct, but playing with optics and duct tape would be on my list of things to do "when I have time ... i.e., after I retire in a few years."

I have a huge, rectangular magnifying glass with built-in lights, on a swiveling arm, but during the last move, it went form "clamped onto my kitchen table 100% of the time", to "it's in one of those boxes ... yes, THOSE boxes ... stacked 3-5 high around every wall, mostly filled with books."

I think it had around 10X magnification, great for eyeballing the edge and micro-bevel on knives I was sharpening.

I think if the image will only go to a PC, not a TV, I might look for a cheaper version with USB-only connectivity, not wireless. I've read about "USB microscopes", but not yet of any cheap ones.

I've tried magnifying glasses, but maybe the field of focus is too narrow for me to find it.

A motion-detecting, video-recording "hunter's camera would be great, too. I think USB would be all I needed there, too, unless I was using it to watch my neighbor trespass in real time.
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Jul 5, 2015 11:40 PM CST
Thread OP
Name: Greg
Lake Forest Park, Washington (Zone 8b)
Garden Ideas: Level 1
Pistil said:I bought a D-Link DCS-933L spy-cam at Staples a month ago, to spy on my new cats and find out if the one I never see is being beaten up. I can watch the live-action on my computer, it even shows a black and white image in near darkness! I turn off the sound. I did not pay for the "cloud" use. If I had I could even watch them on my cell phone. I don't know if it is waterproof. It was not that hard to set up. I am very satisfied with it. It was about $80.


This conversation really piqued my interest, so I've been looking at various remote cams. Although this one sounds good for what it's intended for, I think I would be more interested in an outdoor wildlife cam that will record stills or videos for downloading later. There's many out there, but the reviews are all over the board.

http://us.dlink.com/products/c...

http://tinyurl.com/nary94n
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