Friday, August 19, 2016

Squirrel!



Disclaimer: No animals were harmed in the making of this post.

I hope these bring a smile to your face.

My vegetable gardening skills are somewhat lacking, but I enjoy growing fruit. Our best crops are peaches, blueberries, and raspberries. That said, getting them onto the table can be a challenge. (Thank you, Adam, for not resisting that forbidden fruit.)

This year, a late spring frost depressed the peach crop. And then there's the annual fight against fungus, insects and squirrels. The squirrels are one of the most annoying. They wait until the crop is ripe, then strip trees and bushes bare.

This week, after picking blueberries regularly for the past month, I noticed a sudden cessation in ripe ones. Every day, there were only unripe ones. That's usually a sign of a squirrel assault, so my husband took action with a humane trap.

Success.

Winston (our 8 1/2 month old Australian Shepherd) wasn't sure what to make of this at first.



But hey, it looked suspiciously like a favorite playmate who squeaks when you squeeze him:



Puppies just wanna have fun.



I think he decided we'd gotten him a new toy.



Poor puppy. He just couldn't get the squirrel to play.


I rescued the squirrel by loading him in the van and taking him to a park about 5 miles away (on the other side of the river so he won't easily come back). Afterward, I discovered he'd left me a few "gifts" (if you know what I mean) in the back of the van.

Methinks I should let Winston have the next one.




4 comments:

  1. Awww, poor little squirrel!

    My dad caught one in one of those traps because it was one of the ones pulling down their peaches, pulling out the seeds and tossing the fruit into the gutter.

    Our poor squirrel was so traumatized, it wouldn't move or eat or anything. We took it to the local animal study park and they warmed it up and untraumatized it. I'm sure it lived a happy and well-studied life after that.

    My parents never did get many peaches.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Peaches are notoriously tricky to grow. Maybe it's partly because we don't have just the right conditions here, but I have to spray -- a lot. They are susceptible to a lot of fungus and insects. And of course, after all that, squirrels will strip a tree bare in a matter of hours.

      Delete
  2. What a handsome boy! Thanks for sharing his obsession with us. It's good to have hobbies!

    How's the back-to-school season at your house, C.J.?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Back-to-school is going to be busy here. Son #3 really, really wants to try homeschooling, and I agreed to let him try it for a year. (Crazy, I know.)

      Delete

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