Freaking Raccoons

...and the war continues! This is what we saw when we went outside this morning. What the &;$;@ do we do now??!!?? This took some serious work on their behalf.

Comic relief: Apparently, Mr. Raccoon didn't see the sticker with the picture of a raccoon with a line through it...right next to the $28.95 price tag.

Ideas?

...and the Beat Goes On

I have grand plans for this week and I am writing about them in hopes that they will actually happen.

Today I covered both beds with bird netting. Why you ask? There are only carrots and remnants of patty pan and cherry tomatoes. Ah, but the raccoons are back. (No exclamation points. No CAPS. I am speaking about this in a calm voice. Really. You don't believe me? You are asking if I am medicated? No, just taking deep breaths.)

Let's just say my precious garlic bulbs will be here soon and I am hoping to hear the sounds of a seriously pissed off raccoon tonight. They WILL NOT mess with my garlic. (Yikes, THERE are the CAPS. I digress.)

And so this week I hope to throw down a couple of inches of compost and some mulch...under the netting, of course and I would like to set up our modified coldframe. Dreaming...hoping, that I can find a weather window.

Keep on me to make it happen and I will promise to post when I hear the raccoons finding the netting. *smiling*

Side note: My intention is not to hurt them...just deter.

Join me. Laugh with me.

After dealing with the furry little bandits and a little anticipation...

Time: 10:23pm

Sound: chick-chick-chick-chick and some serious squealing.

Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

The sprinkler may not solve my problem, but that sound byte was worth every penny we spent on it.

Now I can go to sleep with a smile on my face.

Anticipation

Ok, the raccoon came back. This isn't too surprising. That man I mentioned before...the one I married and love. He was outside setting up a sprinkler with a motion detector. He tested it himself. Seriously. I wish I had video. LOVE this guy.

He is asleep. I am awake. I am waiting to hear that chick-chick-chick sound from the sprinkler and I will be upstairs snickering, chuckling, giggling, and LAUGHING.

Moral of the story: if you can't beat 'em, soak 'em!!

Game on!!

Yesterday, after having a minor meltdown about the state of the garden and finding footprints, I decided to go take a serious inventory.

Weird things are afoot and I need to start doing a little bit of research. The older leaves of my zucchini and spaghetti squash are kaput; however, they do have quite a few new leaves coming up. This gives me a little bit of hope. 4 of my baby spaghetti squash were punchy and soft. I cut them off and chucked them into the "compost pile". The roller coaster of emotion is wreaking havoc on me. I did harvest 4 healthy-sized zucchinis, 2 yellow zukes and 1 crookneck and noticed that more were following, so that crop isn't completely out of commission, yet. The spaghetti squash look like forgotten Hollywood starlets, tapped out and wilting. Join me up the roller coaster track. The pumpkins are doing very well and my crazy hybrid spaghetti squash is thriving.  We haven't tasted it yet, that will come after the fair.

There is a lot going on in this picture. 

1) Do you see the tomato plant that is at the bottom left of the screen? Yes, that is all ONE tomato plant and you are only seeing half of it. Next year our tomato plants are going in the ground. They will not be in containers. 

2) Do you see the bamboo scattered all over the top half of the bed? These are there to keep the raccoons off a la "Whale Wars". They won't jump up into protruding sticks will they? I mean they might, but then the noise will be so crazy that it will wake me up (I am a very light sleeper and currently up most nights thanks to the bambino in my belly) and I can run out there with my flashlight and yell at them like a crazy lady. I know the neighbors are looking forward to this display; my husband will sleep through the entire thing. You probably see the pinwheels as well?!? Leftover toys and party favors that kept the birds away from my sprouting carrots! 

3) Along the bottom and the bottom right, you can see my sad squash plants. I tested the soil and the moisture level is ok. What do these poor things need?

4) What you can't see in this pic is that there are hundreds of little seedlings under all of that bamboo!! Turnips, parsnips, spinach, pole beans, lettuce and carrots. My inside window seat is filled with 10 broccoli starts and 10 cabbage starts that are flourishing. I am keeping my fingers crossed.

So "Game On"! This is all a learning experience and we are already planning for next spring. Raccoons don't scare me and I will keep on planting even when I don't get the yield I dreamed of in the spring. The fresh summer squash, peas, lettuce and tomatoes make it all worth the time and energy. As Lewis Grizzard said, "It's difficult to think anything but pleasant thoughts while eating a homegrown tomato." Oh yes, and wish me "good luck", I entered some garden photos at the SJI County Fair.