Too Good To Be True

Avocado Tree

Well, we should have known that it was too good to be true when we thought the California Ground Squirrels had all been wiped out by the large Gopher Snake a couple of weeks ago.  We were actually feeling sorry for the squirrels.  We should have known that the apparent Lone Survivor was actually just an advance scout.

Yesterday Cindy saw Big Mama and a smaller squirrel out under the bird feeder stuffing themselves with birdseed and thought, "Aw, how cute they are."

Later we were sitting on the patio and Cindy said, "Why is the top of the avocado tree vibrating?"  We went tearing out to it and saw Big Mama inside the the plastic fencing around the avocado tree; she panicked when she saw us and swiftly hauled her ample posterior up over the fencing and scrambled off into the shrubbery, leaving behind her a couple of broken branches on the tree.

That small tree has been struggling ever since we planted it last year and recently something has been eating the new leaves that had set on it.  We suspected that it was a June Bug, but since we caught Big Mama in the act it's pretty clear that at least some of the damage is attributable to her.

However, worse was yet to come; when we returned later in the afternoon, we found a note from the neighbors informing us that they had seen the squirrels inside the bird netting around the blueberry bushes.

That's when we found out that they had eaten most of the blueberry crop.

What's Left of the Blueberry Crop

We're not thinking they're so cute now.