Dad’s trees are under attack!  As you know from Lead Us Not into Temptation, Dad takes his trees seriously…even if some of them look more like sticks than trees.  Well you can’t even begin to imagine how bad I feel that I let Dad down.  Everyone knows that a farmer depends on his dog to scare away the vermin.  Well I have to be honest and admit I’ve let my guard down lately.  The Deer have been eating Dad’s apple trees!  And not just any apple trees, the ones that actually are starting to look like trees!  It started with a nibble here and a nibble there, but has now escalated to they’ve eaten all the leaves on the lower branches.  The wilderness needs your full attention, I can’t believe I let him down!

Adding to my woes, the Squirrels have committed a senseless act of vandalism on Mom’s sunflowers.  Would you believe they ripped them all up but didn’t eat them?  This is the second year they’ve done that malicious act.  Mom even planted them within the fenced-in herb garden to try to protect them.  At least on the bright side, they only attacked the sunflowers and not the herbs growing next to them.  But this may be part of their plan to give me a false sense of security, and they’ll eat those eventually too.  I must be vigilant.

Asa’s distant “relatives,” the Wild Turkeys, have also decided to extend their stay.  They are treating our wild blueberries and blackberries like their personal buffet!  I shouldn’t have let my guard down when they took up residence in the wild flowers.  But I have to admit it is really funny watching their heads pop up among the flowers like a game of whack-a-mole.  But clearly that was just to distract me from their real intentions.  Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me!

Well consider this your warning vermin!  I’m prepared to stand vigil at the window and bark when you show your ugly heads.  Oh, and on the rare occasion when I need a break for a belly rub, Mom has strategically planted pinwheels around the trees and berries.  You may laugh at these silly colorful pinwheels, but Asa is completely mesmerized by them and will protect them if you dare go near them.  Well played Mom!

By the way, in case you’re wondering about Dad’s “box” garden, not a single box is growing.  But I have to admit there does appear to be magic beans on the vine!  I’ll keep you posted…