Dogwoods...YES!...Mud Daubers...NO!

It is getting interesting in the mudroom. Just enough pots trying to dry in the room that they all have to take turns grasping at dry air to dampen. I know that’s not the way it works, but I’ve reached a standstill. This happens every Spring...like the trees in bloom.
 
But of course, drying pots is not the most interesting happening in the room.
 
I have a resident snake in the mudroom. It’s a juvenile Sharp-tailed snake (Contia tenuis). It is the most lovely red hue. Reminds me of madder. It is a bit smaller than the one I came across in the yard two years ago. This also tells me that we have at least a breeding pair on the property. It’s about 6 inches long not and will likely just about double in size. Literature tells me that the species prefers moist environments…certainly found that in the mudroom. Both times I’ve come across them here, I first thought I was looking at a big worm. They’re that slender.
 
So the snake can stay, but the Mud Daubers cannot. No no no no no! Period. No! Oh…and that stupid spider that bit me a couple weeks back. I’m still recovering from the bite and can still see the fang marks. I’d like to stomp the hell out of that one.
 
…and another critter that needs to move along are the woodpeckers. Henry and Maude (yes we have a pair) have decided that the house can be turned into a nursery and have put two nesting holes through the siding…replete with removal of insulation. The house looks like a carnival with all the dangling shiny bits of foils. I don’t care if they’re a pair of Downy, Acorn or Hairy woodpeckers…I need them to find love in a different spot. They fall under the Migratory Bird Treaty Protection Act (of 1918) but don’t tell the idiot receptionist answering the phone at the USFW in Sac…she was adamant that the Feds have nothing to do with migratory birds…good grief.
 
Now if all these critter’s would just learn to throw pots it would be helpful…at least learn to throw the ball for Madison, the seven month old Black Lab puppy.