Caught in the act!

Caught this young groundhog shamelessly munching on our oregano yesterday. I've named him Nigel in honour of a friend's cat. Wish the cat (who recently died :-( ) was in our garden yesterday. Nigel The Cat would surely have made short work of Nigel The "Eating Machine" Groundhog.



I formally apologize to the squirrels of our neighbourhood for blaming them for the destruction of some of my plants -- though I DO still blame them for digging up my seedlings since I've caught THEM in the act as well -- since it looks as if Nigel is the culprit.



Many mornings and afternoons, we'll find Nigel lazily lounging on our new deck in exactly the same spot. I used to think he was cute but now that I know that he's EATING OUR PLANTS it's clear that the cuteness is just a mask for his Evil Groundhog Soul.

I'm positive he's been collaborating with the neighbourhood squirrels, probably called in as the big artillery like when the orcs called in the cave troll in Moria.

Why I haven't been Blathering much lately

For those who have missed my Blatherings (aw, thank you!), it's because I've been doing a lot of writing and prep for the SCBWI conference in L.A. in a couple of weeks, plus trying to "meet" others who are attending so I won't arrived a COMPLETE stranger.

As I mention in the announcements section of Blatherings, I post in Inkygirl much more frequently than this blog (usually several times a day, with new and old cartoons) plus I'm Twittering. If you're on Livejournal, you can subscribe to the Inkygirl feed here.

If you're a writer on Twitter, you can follow @inkyelbows. I also use this account to post links to new writer cartoons, including Will Write For Chocolate and Countdown To The SCBWI Convention.

If you're a non-writer, you probably want to follow my personal account at @debohi instead.

I also have a VERY chatty account I use for @replies and online Twitter chats at @debbieohi. Here's why I have three accounts.

Happy Canada Day!

Check out this little guy who was hanging out in our backyard with his siblings and mom yesterday, stuffing Saskatoon berries in his mouth as fast as he could.

After the photoshoot, Mama and cubs took off to find a quieter eating establishment:


Then this morning, we found this young groundhug sunning himself on our new deck:



I commented on how cute he was, and Jeff pointed out how he wouldn't be so cute when the little guy is chomping down on my plants. I bet the squirrels trained him.

Speaking of squirrels, thanks (I think :-D) to my friend Dave Weingart for pointing me to this somewhat disturbing video:



Happy Canada Day, everyone!

Meeting Beth (plus a garden rant)

Enjoyed meeting Beth on the weekend; she's a friend of Jeff's gaming buddies whom everyone had met online but not yet in person.



I love it when online friendships make it to in-person contact. Beth's visit was a surprise for most of the guys; it was fun to see people's reactions when they met her and clued into the fact that they had already "met" her through online gaming.



Speaking of gaming, I played Formula 1 for the first time. I was even doing well for a while!



Until I got too enthusiastic and spun out, that is. Ah well.

While showing Beth around our garden, by the way, I noticed that SOMETHING IS EATING MY PLANTS!!


Photo by Walter.

Argggh. Several of my plants had clearly been vandalized.

I'd accuse the squirrels, but do squirrels eat parsley?!?


Photo by Walter.

Painting on the iPhone -- plus more Evil Squirrel tidbits

Wow. I'm impressed that artist Jorge Columbo had the patience to paint the image above on the iPhone; he used a $4.99 iPhone app called Brushes (which, of course, I was compelled to immediately buy).

But back to Evil Squirrels and gardening...



Thanks for pointing out that lavender CAN be eaten, everyone. David even posted a recipe for Honey and Lavender ice cream

Lots of advice on how to keep the squirrels away, including using (er...thanks, Margaret! :-D) human urine. But I was most amused by the following exchange of advice from my friends John Chew and Bruce Macintosh:

John:
I’ve heard people recommend sprinkling blood meal on the soil to keep squirrels away, but that presumably doesn’t work on carnivorous vampire squirrels.

Bruce:
Blood meal? Are you kidding? That’ll set off a feeding frenzy. Were the “people” who recommended that 7 inches tall and furry?

Heh. :-)

Evil Squirrels

Embracing the warmer weather, Jeff and I picked up a bunch of plants at a local nursery on the weekend. I tend to opt for plants I can eat while Jeff prefers nicer-looking plants that blend with the rest of the garden. My choices: sweet basil, Italian parsley, marjoram, German thyme, woolly thyme, red creeping thyme, peppermint, spearmint, sage, rosemary, stevia, two types of tomato plants, eggplant, red pepper, zucchini, cucumber and lavender. Ok, I can't eat lavender, but I love the fragrance.



Last year, I tried planting most of my herbs from seed but got discouraged when the squirrels dug up many of my seedlings after I spent weeks nurturing them before transplanting them outdoors. This year I opted for young plants instead.



I sprinkled cayenne pepper after transplanting them into pots, hoping to keep away the squirrels. Unfortunately it rained, washing away the cayenne, and this morning there were GAPING HOLES in the soil of many of the pots; looks like the squirrels have been digging again. I've liberally sprinkled more cayenne pepper -- I'm going to have to find a bulk supplier.



Speaking of squirrels, I'm pretty sure one died in the ceiling of my office recently. There were noises up there for a bit, but the noises stopped. Then the smell began. Ugh.

When I posted about this in Facebook, my friend Bruce Macintosh wrote:

It's also possible that the silence indicates the squirrel has stopped feeding and the smell comes from a recent kill. Are any neighbors missing?

:-D