Our strawberries have been ripening daily. Each day we get a little bowlful to enjoy for breakfast and midday snacks. The girls love to wonder out their when they need a little pick me up to search for a sweet red berry. Unfortunately, every visit to the healthy patch has been accompanied with bad news that more berries were half eaten.
At first I suspected birds, but closer inspection assured me that these were no peck marks, no these were the offenses of something with teeth! Squirrels were my first suspects. We have lots of them around our house, and our back garden is their favorite place to bury chestnuts and the rest of their summer findings for winter.
Brecklyn found this hole:
And Talia found this one:
The little critter, whoever he was, had made a home behind our stone wall- and essentially right under our strawberry patch! Sigh.
The thing that bothered me the most was that it wasn’t like he stole a berry and carefully carried it back to his home to enjoy with his family. No he half ate it and then as if to taunt me left the other half, juicy and red, on the top of the stone wall, in the driveway, or left hanging on the vine to mold. Grrr.
This afternoon Tali and Brecklyn and I were assessing the carnage when we saw this:
In a flash it darted across the driveway to the wall, but then frightened by us, it ran back, then back and into one of the aforementioned holes. Caught!
Well, kind of. Now what do I do? I’ve identified my criminal, do I try to catch him so I can sit him down and discuss the injustices of stealing my hard earned, and much awaited strawberries? or do I proclaim him guilty and proceed to the death penalty? What’s your say?
