We came across this information somewhere but don't remember, but anyway we were having problems with many small critters showing up due the drought and having the animals coming up from the creek. We live on a small private lane and we were all having problems. My neighbor had baby skunks following her home when she went for her walks. We had a bunch of them tucked up under my window in a little nest. Someone told us about peppermint oil, so after spending $10 on peppermint oil at whole foods because no one else had it, we finally got rid of our intruders.. I soaked cotton balls with it and threw them under the house and all around our problem and that was about 2 years ago. So maybe it does work.. I keep a bottle in the cupboard now just in case. Good luck.. you can throw it down the holes with the voles and gophers go.. having dogs and cats help to..

Yes, Rosalee I think your right. It looks like a garter snake. I'm a little nervous around spiders right now I just took my daughter in for an abscess on her leg, it turned out to be a spider bite. She had an allergic reaction and it looks bad. He said they aren't like wasps, you don't even feel it when they bite you. We don't even know if it happened in the house or out. It looks worse than it is, he just prescribed an ointment. I kept her home from school today, more for my peace of mind. I'm going to make sure she wears pants and good shoes when she's outside gardening (she has a lot of seedlings growing)

Oh...I have lots! The Seagulls and Turns, they are fun to watch and I love to hear them. The Sandpipers...they are so darn cute. The Purple Martins, although I wish they ate more sandflies from above the yard instead of the lake, the noises they make when they get back to the house are great! The Hummingbirds. The robins nesting in my Japanese Quince, especially after seeing one of them chase off a field mouse. The mockingbird or cat bird that learned the entire sequence of a car alarm-although it can get old, lol. The Cedar Waxwings, especially watching them hover to grab a bug. The gold finches...so tiny and cute! Not so sure about the chipmunk...cute...but he or she better stick to seed heads and stay out of the Cottage! Same for the squirrels, and watching them hang upside down off of the feeder mitigates my dislike for them eating so much of the seed. The grackels are far bigger pigs, imo. The toads. The butterflies...although the monarachs seem a bit bossy. Most especially the clear wing hummingbird moths, those are so fun to watch and not nearly as nervous as the hummingbirds themselves! The cardinals and chickadees...I love the little chick a dee dee dee song.

I am glad the Butterfly escaped.... I helped a Monarch get free from an Argiope web yesterday (her web is a bit high for my taste)...interestingly enough, the spider wasn't paying any interest in the B-fly....guess they prefer the grasshoppers which is just fine with me :0) I may have to move her if it happens again...