"Doh, CHUCK!"

Chuck, in case any of you wonder, is the resident chipmunk that has lived here for a few years.  Chuck knows us and has made a happy tunnel under our back yard that he scoodles in and out of all year.  We consider Chuck just a regular ole member of the family.  Now then, with family members, you get irritated from time to time.

That is where K- is at with Chuck.

It seems as though Chuck runs through the yard in the middle of the night and with the tiniest of axes, he chop, chop, chops down all of the sunflowers that K- is trying to grow.  K- started out with something like 12 or 16.  She now has one left. 

We've noticed the sunflowers getting the chop for a few weeks now.  One by one, we would find the top part of the sunflower cast off to the side.  When K- finally got down to the last one, I heard her grumbling when she found it, "Doh, CHUCK!"  Oh, I can't tell you how that made me giggle. 

I thought that I raised him better than that, though.

We've managed to keep that last one going.  How have we done it?  Well, I cut the top and bottom off of a Powerade bottle and put a guard over the remaining sunflower.  "But Chuck could dig from the bottom or jump in from the top."  "Yes, but we can only do what we can do."

Chuck, or his extended family, has decided that my marigolds are nothing but extremely delicious.  They've eaten all of them in my front beds.  The beetles are starting, so what the chipmunks aren't getting, it seems that the beetles are making up for it. 

The plight of organic gardening.  People, critters and bugs feel extremely at home here.  That's generally a good thing.  I'm proud of K- for taking the sunflower bit in stride, though.  I've told her that we are planting at Chuck's house and it is a risk we take.  Still, if we can preserve that last one, we would be happy!

I wrote this and banked it late last week.  Since then, the guard is working AND! we have one more sunflower from the second planting coming up.  I have given it a Powerade guard, too. 

Chuck was running around the yard today as I weeded out the beds, moved some plants around and planted replacements.  (A little tiny mom and pop down the street sells flowers.  They had them clearanced and I bought a flat of zinnias for $5.00 and 4 pepper plants for $2.00.)  Now then, as Chuck has maintained that the backyard is his home, Mona the Mole has moved in up front.  Mona was shuffling around as I was weeding.  I was watching the mulch heave as she searched out her insect meal.  There was a centipede (at least that's what I think it was) that went running from the hole and Mona was soon to follow.  She didn't seem bothered that I was there.  Keep in mind that this was going on all of maybe two feet away from me.  While keeping a lookout for Mona, I had to make sure that I didn't behead any little frogs on my weeding adventure.   It seems that the neighbor's tadpoles have turned into frogs and have, in a biblical fashion, come in a plague-type wave across the street to our organically kept creature home.  They've got a very fat buddy living under the Yew in the back.  I nearly skewered him with the Garden Claw.  Yikes!  Then the Chicken Run bit from Babs runs through my mind, "My life flashed before me eyes.  It wasn't that excitin'."  Keep in mind, I may have that quote off just a tad.  He sat there for a minute like, "Um, I've come here because you offer a loving home where I won't spontaneously grow a third eye.  Now, if you could keep your garden tools to yourself, I will keep on about my business here."  I apologized and moved on.  Poor guy. 

With that, I have a little girl waiting to go on a trip about the 'hood on her scooter.  She's become pretty proficient with that thing and has now started trying to do ballet moves on it while flying down the sidewalk.  Thank goodness that she's pretty good for keeping an eye out for piles of dog poo or lifts in the walk that may be in her path.  Either one could be rather messy.  Ewww.

So, with that, my smiles are that:
-  We survived another year of VBS.
-  My beds are weeded.
-  I finally have pepper plants and didn't pay a small fortune for them.
-  The sun is out and the lawn has dried enough so that Hubs could mow it. 
-  Laundry was dried on the line today.
-  Great neighbors that love to have our kid come to hang out at their house.  The boys were falling all over her.  They made her lunch and they picnicked at the table out back.  They played Uno and Legos.  How they love her.  They brought a necklace back from Las Vegas for her with a piece of rice in it that says, "We love you, K!"  And how they do. 

Must scooter on.  Have a great day!

ETA:  Hubs reports that we do not have a mole in our front yard, but rather a shrew.  A name.  Hmmm.  Susie.  We'll call her Susie.