Jihad on Groundhogs

The other day I went out into the garden around 11am to check on some seeds and as I was walking up I saw a fat groundhog strolling through the watermelon patch! About a month ago I noticed that a few of the watermelon vines were chewed off and I thought it was a rabbit....but we haven't seen any rabbits around because there are so many foxes. NOW I know...it was a groundhog! I yelled and started running towards him picking up a shovel along the way, he freaked and tried to run as fast as his tiny legs and huge body could. We've blocked most of the garden with rocks at the base of the fence so he had to run a while before finding an opening. I got about 4 feet away before he squeezed out, ran a few feet, looked back and then gave me the finger. I swear.

While in the garden he chewed on 8 tomatoes, squash leaves and bean plants. The most irritating part is that he didn't even eat anything, he just chewed on it or sunk his teeth in and left tomatoes all over the ground. What a dick! At least the deer eat stuff! Groundhogs are just vandals. Keying cars and ruining tomatoes for the hell of it.

Then today I was in the kitchen when I looked up and saw his chubby self chilling under the apple tree. I busted outside and the wind was blowing so hard he didn't even notice I was blazing toward him (again, no plan, just running to scare him and honestly just to see if I could catch up) but when he did notice he booked it down the driveway with me behind him. I definitely run faster which is good to know. Faster than a groundhog, slower than a cheetah. He took cover in the brush across the street and looked back when he realized I wasn't chasing him anymore. Then he gave me the finger, I swear.

May the blood of the groundhog infidels run through the streets! Just kidding, I'm going to trap it and release it somewhere else. They only come out during the day so it's not as bad as worrying about deer. I came home after dark the other day to discover a motley crew of them peeping into the garden. They shrugged me off when I flashed my brights so I decided that speeding through the yard after them while honking my horn was necessary. I can't speak for them but I had a great time.

We put cages up around all of the tomatoes, it didn't stop the groundhog from having his way but hopefully the plants will grow taller than his height inside them.

He knocked off a bunch of cherry tomatoes and didn't even touch them! Ugh, such a waste!

Louis finished his screen door project and it has made a world of difference on the porch! No more wasps, flies and butterflies buzzing around in there. 

The door is really pretty, I'm glad we refinished an old one instead of buying new. 

Some neighbors stopped by on Sunday to introduce themselves and bring us canned gifts from their garden! I can't WAIT to try them! They've lived in the house next to us for almost 30 years and have an amazing garden.

A few of our other neighbors who ride horses every evening asked to ride around on our property. I said yes so now I get to look out of the kitchen window and see this when I'm making dinner-

The floor people came and applied the last coat of laquer and added the final trim around the edges.

It looks pretty in the kitchen-

I'm going to paint it to match the white trim around the house. 

In painting news, I picked a color and hated it on the walls. It looked greyer and darker on the swatch but screamed "baby boy blue" on the walls. 

No thanks. I'm going back to HD later for a re-do. 

In garden news, things are growing very well now that we've started to get rain. The corn hits me at chest height now and the sad half row of soy beans is almost all the way back. 

We're seeing how big this zucchini can get before we pick it. I'm aiming for toddler size just to see if it can be done. 

The lima beans I planted last week are sprouting. They look like aliens.

The yellow squash is just now starting to come around.

I kept noticing this HUGE flying bug in the garden that seemed to be landing and crawling into the ground. It's really loud and looks like a giant, elephantitis wasp. I researched it and discovered that it's a "Cicada Killer". They're about 3 inches long, they live in burrows in the ground and they paralyze cicadas and feast on them down there! 

They scare the crap out of me, I could barely look at that picture long enough to upload it.  One has burrowed under a watermelon plant. I tapped at the weird mound of dirt with a rake and it came crawling out all pissed. I ran closer to cheetah speed back to the porch. 

Despite crazy bugs, groundhogs and deer peeping Toms, the watermelons are growing bigger everyday. 

The cantaloupe is also coming in and the sunflowers are shin high. Not bad for being planted last month. 

I've gotta run and finish painting, hopefully I'll find the right shade of blue this time!