My retired next-door neighbors are fond of feeding the birds. No problem there. Unfortunately, however, they feed them whole peanuts (shell and everything) and a sizable fraction of the shells end up strewn across my lawn :mad: My neighbor across the street (also elderly) feeds the same damn unshelled peanuts to the squirrels, who also like to come over to my lawn to eat them :mad:
My one consolation is that feeding peanuts to animals seems to be an old-people thing, and the generation that does this is dying out. Thus, I can look forward to a future where I don’t have to walk around my lawn picking up shells so my property doesn’t look like the floor of a Texas Roadhouse.
Maybe if you offered the animals shelled peanuts, they would eat at your house instead. Cashews and roasted pistachios would surely get them off their peanut kick.
I can sympathize somewhat, as peanuts when they decompose can have a detrimental effect on plants and growth. Husband dumped a bunch of peanuts out for squirrels and there were a lot of shells left right there. The grass stopped growing in that area. Although on the plus side, the creeping charlie did too. Disclaimer - I know correlation does not equal causation, so no do not have full confirmation that it was just the peanut shells that caused it. Plus I’m sure quantity had a lot to do with my minor issue.
On the other hand, I feed my squirrels whole ears of corn, and I bet you’d hate to have that in your yard even more. So just think about how much worse it could be!
I’m not elderly yet, but love feeding the various critters. Its more fun than watching TV. Just the other day, a squirrel came out of my corn patch (which thanks to the drought is about the worst I’ve ever had) with a whole unshucked ear in his mouth. Just trucking across my yard, stealing my sweet corn. Man do I love squirrels - so cute!
I had neighbors like those. The squirrel population grew like crazy and they became very assertive about approaching people for food. I was happy to see them move away, but there are still plenty of hungry squirrels left. They dig up everything that I try to plant. I had to put chicken wire around a pot of marigolds as recently as last week.
One thing that I thought about might be a reason it’s causing problems for your lawn is the neighbors might be feeding them peanuts with salted shells.
**Edited to add: ** Be grateful they aren’t getting under the hood of your car and chewing the wires. This happened to us.
The shells aren’t on your carpet, right? I assume your lawn is outside, where trees drop leaves, limbs, and birds’ nests. Birds probably even poop on the grass as they fly over. Insects, too, poop, shed, and die right there on the lawn. But the peanut shells, which are composed of organic matter and will decompose and become a component of soil… are a problem? Do you groom your lawn with a comb?
Peanut shells take forever to decompose, so no, it’s not just like leaves or grass. And having extra shit in your yard and being annoyed by it does not equal “grooming your lawn with a comb”.
I’m curious: are you a total fucking dick the moment you roll out of bed in the morning, or do you perform some kind of special calisthenics to warm up?
Maybe. But it does mean that any tight-ass who attempts to sanitize the outdoors and turn it into a pristine open air replica of the living room will be doomed to picking the lint off the grass while gnashing his teeth. Reminds me, the fall migration is starting. I gotta go get some peanuts.
Warming up is really important. I start by cursing the daylight. Then I spend a while criticizing the dog for his lack of motivation. I turn on the news and call some politicians idiots, and usually the stupid talking heads as well. After that I check the weather report and complain about it. I hate weather so there’s always something to complain about. Then I’m ready to launch a full on tirade against the first person who wants me to do something. Without the warm up I could end up straining my voice, or worse a full blown apoplexy.
If you need help starting a good routine like this I could give you some pointers.
Translation: “A more reasonable poster just refuted my silly hyperbolic misrepresentation of the OP, so I will repeat my silly hyperbolic misrepresentation in different words.”
The OP did not say that old people in general are “dying out”, but rather that one particular generation of them is: namely, it seems that the last generation to make a habit of feeding unshelled peanuts to birds and squirrels is dying out.
I sure wouldn’t label any version of outrage over small amounts of natural detritus in one’s yard to be “reasonable”. I would, however, label the OP possibly the most hilariously represented example of a first world problem I have encountered. Oh noes!!! There’s yard stuff in my (gasp!) Yard!