A Couple of Survivors

OK, so you all probably think I'm totally crazy right now because this is my third post about squirrels. I'm not crazy, I swear! So on Tuesday this week as I was working from home, I heard a familiar little knock on the back door. When I looked out, it was a squirrel! I thought they were all dead! I was too slow to get the camera, but the little guy came back on Wednesday, and with a friend. So, if you're keeping track, that means we have/had at least 7 squirrels living in our backyard! I wonder how many others survived the "plague" that killed the poor little guys I found in our garden. When the two squirrels were hanging out here on the back porch, it was actually pretty cute (even though I'm still VERY MAD at them). They were standing on their back legs and hitting and jumping on each other and just totally playing. I'm seriously starting to think they might be part human . . .

Anyway, I finally got a couple pictures so you can see that I'm not making things up. I wish I could catch them looking in the window with the camera—it's crazy!—but I'm always too slow. Enjoy!

Todd's Birthday and DEAD Squirrels

First I want to just tell Todd "Happy Birthday!" His birthday was Sunday, which was also Father's Day, so he was totally loving it. He now 31 and officially in his "30s." I love him very much and am so happy for the great spirit he brings with him into our home on a daily basis. He makes me laugh always (even though I don't want him to know I think he's funny) and he's the best snuggler in the world!

And, to keep you posted about the squirrels that raided our garden—they all DIED! No, we did not kill them, and we have no idea what happened to them really. I went out to the garden on Saturday to try a do a little weeding. I got through the row that used to have the lettuce pretty fast, and then reach for the next row and there was a dead squirrel laying there. I screamed and jumped back and looked over just a little farther and another dead squirrel was just a foot or so away, and then another and then another! There were dead squirrels all over our garden! It totally freaked my out and ran screaming for Todd. We were so sad that they all died. We were mad at them, sure, but we just wanted them to leave, not die! We think they were either attacked by something because a couple were a little mangled, or they were poisoned and then eaten by birds or something. Needless to say, there will be no pictures of the little guys now. I'm a little nervous to harvest from our garden now too, considering it might have killed several small animals. Yikes!

We Hate Squirrels!

This year we were totally on the ball and planted a really great garden. We planted yellow squash, zucchini, peas, red peppers, green peppers, jalapeños, onions, tomatoes, cilantro, rosemary, and lettuce. That's a ton of stuff, right? Well, we were especially excited about the lettuce because it came up so fast, but lo and behold, we went out back the other day and the WHOLE ROW of lettuce was completely gone! At first Todd said, "Did it all just die?" But the row was so cleaned out it didn't look like anything had ever even been planted there. And then we noticed the cilantro was eaten down to the ground. What in the world? Then we discovered the problem—SQUIRRELS! We now hate squirrels! We have a family of them living in our garden and they are the culprits! These are no ordinary squirrels either. It's like they think they are human! When I work at home, my office space is right by our back door. Several times I've heard knocking at the door and look out the window to find a squirrel just standing there. I make faces and yell at it to go away, and I even bang on the window, but it just stands there looking all innocent, staring at me. What is the deal with these squirrels? I also can't even go walk over to the garden area of our yard because they start "squeaking" at me and it totally freaks me out! Todd bought some "Critter Ridder" yesterday, so we'll have to see if that gets rid of them!

P.S. Next time the darn things knock on the back door, I'm taking a picture so you all believe me!