Saturday, September 17, 2011

Hole Mystery!

The weather has cooled off and we have some wet stuff falling from the sky, I believe it's called rain. I have some lettuce coming up and the turnips are trying to hang in there, but are needing some sunshine. They are growing rather spindly right now. Preacher man sent me this picture the other day with the caption, "I didn't do it!" There seems to be a hole in the center of one of my pots of lettuce! The first thing that I did was cuss the herd! Maybe Yazi had thought this was a good place to go potty! Maybe Gracie was needing some green in her diet, but that would be Sam because he's our cow, eating grass all the time. So the mystery begins on who is getting into my lettuce! 
Later that same day, I decided to water the plants, which includes the raised bed garden with turnips planted in it. I got the hose out and started the process of filling the bird bath, stretching the hose out to the turnip bed and then I saw it! Dang holes in my turnip bed! Now, you have to remember that Preacher man put hog fence around this bed to keep the herd and cat out. We know from past gardens, the herd thinks a soft dirt pile was put on earth just for them the lay on. This ends up NOT being good for plants! They do not grow well under 90 pounds of dog! 
So I started thinking, would birds to this? They have been eating some of the seeds before they germinate, but digging holes is not something birds are known to do. Moles aren't in this part of the yard and they don't dig holes, they make tunnels to trip over and to tear up lawn mowers. Who could be getting in here and digging holes and what were they looking for? That's when I saw it, a Walnut! We have a Walnut tree in the back yard and it's starting to drop nuts all over the place. No, I don't think that a Walnut dropping from a tree will make this kind of hole! I do however know what is after Walnuts and could be either looking for some or trying to hide some...SQUIRRELS! I had solved the great hole mystery and was quick in announcing my find to Preacher man. He replied that he had seen some squirrels on the back porch just the other day!
My solution was to get out the gun and blow them up. Preacher man's reply to this was. "Every time you want to blow up either a squirrel or a black bird in the back yard, and we hit one, you get all upset because it has a right to live too. So no, we aren't going to get the gun out and blow up anything!" Dang it! I forgot about that!
So now my solution is to keep a barking dog that loves to chase squirrels in the back yard, when it's not raining and she won't get wet, and cold, and bring all that mud and junk into the house. Being a farmer in the city is not as easy as you would first think! 
Dang Squirrels!