Pests!
You wouldn't think our freezing winter here in Michigan would be a time to be scourged by pests. But I personally have been troubled by a couple, one here and one at home.
The pictures tell the story of one of my tormentors. One of my Christmas gifts was a "squirrel-proof" bird feeder which I hung on a dead branch outside out kitchen window so I could watch the nuthatches and finches come get their winter seed.
Then this week, this! I found the feeder on the snowy ground, taken apart, with seed scattered everywhere. So the squirrel shown in a picture taken earlier is a "person of interest" in this crime. Lousy squirrel. Take a good look at him. I may post a reward for his capture.
Obviously the feeder wasn't THAT squirrel-proof. Especially after it fell (or was knocked) to the ground.
I'm also bothered by a Japanese spammer who has been making daily posts to my "Halloween Epitaphs" blog. In Japanese, of course. Why he's so interested in that particular blog I have no idea.
Do they even celebrate Halloween in Japan? I know by my sitemeter that I get few Japanese visitors and the few I do get don't find my blog by Googling "Halloween Epitaphs." I copied some of the spam text lines into a translator but it translated nonsensically. I delete the spam and in a few days there's more.
So what to do? I really don't want to do that "guess the letters" puzzle that I know many other bloggers have been forced to do with their own blogs. I am going to try to change the name of that blog to see if that throws off this spambot. I hate those things.
Another spammer has been posting pitches for his Cialis or Viagra site on a blog titled "Simons Says - Guest Blog," a blog ghost-written by my son's Boston Terrier. Why there? Especially when I wrote a blog once titled "Why I Need Viagra." It would make much more sense to post his spam there.
Makes me wonder who's smarter, the spammers or the squirrel.
posted by Big Dave T @ 4:06 PM
11 Comments:
I've been having some spammers myself Dave. thankfully, they're listing themselves as anon and I'm refusing to go further.
as for your squirrels-no problem here in CA, the coyotes ran them out
Dave, if you enable the word verification on your blog, it will stop that. Few spammers are real people who will enter the verification. I was having the same experience (although I decided it was Chinese, not Japanese, but I know squat about either!), and that stopped it for me. I'll leave it a while and then try without again for a while.
Once some comment was made on my blog about (I'm doing you a favor here by substituting * for the letter "a", trust me!) "l*die's p*nties, and I was bombarded with insane levels of hits and a few spammers. Go ahead, google that without the symbols and see what you get. The good thing is .... I was really popular for a while! Well, OK, my blog was.
My latest round of spams is from a site that sells term papers and dissertations.
It's hard to take them seriously when they comment things like: This blog gives good informations. Keep up the good works.
Word verification is annoying. Hold off.
Simon can take care of that squirrel...for a price.
Hi Dave, the spam irritation is the reason I have word verification on comments for my blog. I know it takes a little longer to leave a comment but I do it to keep from having to deal with spam. Not all spam is rated G. So I appreciate when you come visit my blog and leave a comment.
CARINE--That's true? That coyotes took care of the squirrels in California. Wow. The only natural predator of squirrels here in Michigan is the automobile.
LYNILU--I haven't been bothered by spammers too much. But this particular Japanese spammer (he occasionally leaves a link to a site with a Japanese suffix so I don't believe it's Chinese) has been too persistent. I may have to go the word verification route.
JAN--I'm holding off as long as I can. Guess my blog isn't intellectual enough to attract spammers selling term papers.
ANONYMOUS--Simon can't catch the squirrels in our backyard. Maybe in his younger days . . .
TECHNOBABE--There's this one blog that not only requires word verification, but that you post your comment in a specified time period, or else it's lost. Needless to say, this blog doesn't get as many comments as your's.
Hi Dave, I was getting the same spammer by the sound of it I got rid of the comments appearing by setting "Comment moderation" on posts over 10 days old, you then get the option to accept or reject the comment in your notification email, seems to work fine as my guy? never comments on current posts.
Dear Dave.. THE ONLY birdfeeder that really does work against the squirels is the one that twirls around whenever the squirrel gets on the perch that surrounds it. Funnier than heck to watch it and how drunk they get..NO problem for the birds though..here is a link
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&source=hp&q=twirling+bird+feeder&btnG=Google+Search&aq=0&oq=twirling+bird&aqi=g1g-m1
there are many of them made and they really DO WORK. Good luck!
Stay warm!! : )
Hi Dave ~~Sorry about the squirrel proof bird feeder!! You could sue for false advertising, you have the photo for evidence.
The spammers are a nuisance aren't they? I have had several Chinese or Japanese which I just delete and a few others. I hesitate to put WV on.
Thanks for your comments, I am surprised there are no Woolworths
left over there as that is where they started. We don't have WalMart
here (yet) Your mother's minced steak sandwiches sound nice.
I hope your weather improves and you get less snow to slow traffic.
Here it is well over 100F and we have 3 or 4 more days 40C -104F and 42C which is 107.6. Thankfully no serious fires as yet. Two men
have been arrested as arsonists
so that is two that won't start any.
PETER--Hmmmm, comment moderation on posts over 10 days old. That might work for me.
CAROLDEE--I've seen videos of those feeders in action. That would be one way of getting back at those thieves.
MERLE--I just checked with my wife and she worked at Kresge, not Woolworths. But I don't think either is around anymore. At least not around here.
Hi Dave,
Greetings from another Michigander (I'm near Brighton). I haven't had any problems with squirrels but chipmunks drove us nuts this summer! Right now I have about 5 different feeders on the deck and it's so nice not having those ugly Grackles and pesky chipmunks around. Really sorry the squirrel was able to get to your new feeder.
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