[SustainableTompkins] Dogs, deer, fertilizer and body odor.

[Tony Del Plato]

George,
No offense taken and thanx for the very interesting story in Vietnam. Did
you learn of this during or after the American War? (this can be a off line
conversation)
Tony

On 2/29/08, George Frantz <gjem5760 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> Deer have avoided our yard since we got our dog a little over three years
> ago.
>
>   What may help is that we 1) she is let out on a cable run, which means
> she is free to spend as much time as she likes outdoors; 2) she is extremely
> territorial; and 3) she sheds an enormous amount of fur which we comb out
> and distribute to areas of the yard that she cannot reach on her cable.
>
>   We regularly see deer in the yards surrounding ours, but they now do not
> venture into our yard.
>
>   On the subject of human fertilizer: there are no interior bathrooms with
> running water, nor outhouses in the rural hamlets in Vietnam where my
> in-laws live.  There is however plenty of rice paddy nearby.
>
>   Despite the free ranging cattle and water buffalo I also never had to
> worry about stepping in cow plops.  They just seem to appear, then disappear
> like magic!
>
>   I also have not seen any sign of deodorant use there, nor have I ever
> encountered anybody with any unattractive body odor there, despite
> temperatures in the triple digits and ultra high humidity during
> rice-harvest time and no daily shower routine.
>
>   The same applies to the streets of Hanoi and Hoi An, and (sorry Tony) to
> the cooks and wait staff of our favorite family run down off the tourist
> track eateries.
>
>   Having grown up on a farm and knowing how the nose easily acclimates to
> smells after certain amount of exposure, that may be what happens outside
> the hyper-clean United States.
>
>   I still remember how shortly after my arrival back in Ithaca from a trip
> I was walking down the Commons during a rain shower and was structure at how
> unnaturally clean and sanitizedy the place smelled in the rain.
>
>   North Vietnamese solidiers had a standing joke during the American War.
> (Yeah, they refer to them as the Japanese War, the French War and the
> American War)  If you had a good sense of smell you'd never get caught in an
> American ambush.  Toothpaste on the breath would give the ambush location
> away everytime.
>
>   George Frantz
>
>
>
>
> Jan Quarles <janq at zoom-dsl.com> wrote:
>   Yes, our two Border Collies have kept all deer away from our garden for
> more
> than 7 years. In fact, the deer don't even come within hundreds of feet of
> our garden because they can smell DOG all over our yard.
>
> Last winter, though, the squirrels climbed over the 5-ft high chicken-wire
> fence surrounding our garden, and munched on the garlic we had planted in
> Nov '06. So in Nov '07, we outsmarted them by covering the raised garlic
> bed
> with black mesh netting. We plan to cover our strawberry beds with the
> netting too, as part of our on-going participation in the ancient
> "Mammal-Rodent Conflict."
>
> - Jan
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Margaret McCasland"
> To: "Sustainable Tompkins County listserv"
>
> Sent: Friday, February 29, 2008 11:59 AM
> Subject: Re: [SustainableTompkins] deer repellents: waste stream thread
>
>
> >I know fox urine is sold commercially as a deterrent. I also know
> > that hungry deer get bold and will ignore LOTS of things (like shiny
> > pie plates, Irish Spring soap bars, etc), jump high fences, eat what
> > they are not supposed to like, etc.
> >
> > From some research I did in the past, I was told that the only
> > consistently good repellent is having dogs in your yard.
> >
>
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