Cindy called downstairs to me the other day and said, "That squirrel is eating my pumpkin plant! Go chase him off!"
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| Pumpkin Leaves AKA Squirrel Salad |
So I ran out to the beds behind the garage, waving my arms up over my head, yelling "RAAAAAH! RAAAH! RAAAAH!", chasing the squirrel as he scampered all the way out to the telephone pole on the edge of the canyon. He probably thought I was crazy, but it did scare him off, at least temporarily.
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| More Salad |
Then I went to inspect the damage and discovered that he had indeed chewed every bit of pumpkin leaf he could reach through the chicken wire cage Cindy had created for the pumpkin plant. The leaves are now about the size of dinner plates; the one leaf was pretty well chewed up along the edge that touched the chicken wire, so it's obvious that the squirrel has been helping himself to a salad for a while.
Cindy had hoped to be able to wait a while longer before constructing some of the more sophisticated varmint enclosures for the two beds behind the garage, but at the rate the pumpkin is growing, it looks like it's going to have to be sooner rather than later. The smaller openings of the hardware cloth she uses for the bottom half of the enclosures should thwart the squirrel, while the plexiglass top half keeps them from climbing into the beds.
This
"Family Tree" cartoon by Signe Wilkinson just about says it all (click on the link to see the cartoon).
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