I hate squirrels!

Squirrels are evil. They are nothing but rats with good PR. They cause hundreds of dollars worth of damage to my property alone. Last year they tore apart my lawn furniture cushions, ate all my pumpkins and dug up seeds right after I planted them. We were lucky to get any fruit and it is always a race to see if we can get apples, pears and grapes harvested before they trash them all.

The face of pure evil

Just today they dug up all but one of my sunflower seedlings and then bit them in half. They also destroyed 2 tomato plants by digging at the roots. My only satisfaction was I managed to blast 2 of them with the garden hose before they dug up the corn.

Living in the burbs, I can't just grab a shot gun and blow them in to tiny bits. We have trapped them in the past, but squirrels are smart. They figured out the trap long ago. Sling shots and BB guns will get their attention, but neither is strong enough to permanently take care of these evil beasts.

I am especially not happy at being outsmarted by a rodent with a brain the size of a pea, but this monkey isn't giving up. For now, all the wire baskets I could find are being employed to protecting the tomatoes. Netting has kept them out of the cabbage bed so far, but I have a lot of growing area and will need to beef up security. I see a trip to the hardware store in the future.

The back yard may end up looking like Alcatraz, but at least I will have something to harvest.