What would John Muir do?

Well, the squirrels are still around.

My petunias are still covered with hardware cloth and chicken wire.

My impatiens are mostly surrounded by chicken wire, but the squirrels still dig in the parts that they can reach, and in one planter, one guy actually went under the wire and dug a hole. (See photos below.)

Here's the one where he (she?) went under the wire:

They have partaken of the fake corn cob I got for them, but it doesn't seem to be their preference. (I wanted to put a picture of it, but for some reason that has been coded bX-dwurj8, Blogger is not letting me download more photos.)

Today I went and looked at the big fake owls. $30 for these guys. They do move their heads in the wind, which is kind of cool. But it will mean getting out the ladder and putting a little stand onto our beautiful oak tree. I hate to scar a tree in the process, not even knowing if these squirrels will be fooled by it.

I'm continuing to sprinkle the fox urine granules every 3-4 days. Hope springs eternal. I won't sprinkle that stuff eternally, though, if I don't see some results within a week or so.

I'm wondering if I could somehow lure a hawk to come live in our neighborhood....

I remember in eighth grade in a Wednesday night Bible class, having a lesson based on the phrase "catch us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines . . ." from the Song of Solomon. What I recall about the lesson was that we need to be on the lookout for bad habits and vices that can start out really small and even seem like fun, but if not addressed, can spoil our character and development into mature Christian people.

That just came to mind as I consider how much time and effort I'm putting into stopping these squirrels, these little bitty creatures that are so cute when they are young, because they are capable of destroying everything I plant! The Old Testament verse makes much more sense to me now than it did in the eighth grade.

(Oh, and if perchance you think I'm obsessing over the squirrels, you must look at my sister Lisa's comment on the previous post and watch the videos she provided links to.)