It was dark...so dark. You could hear the squirrels chattering in the trees, calling to one another and plotting...always plotting. The bugs - the awful, biting bugs - were everywhere, as was the humidity and heat - baking us and causing sweat to roll off our noses like rain off a roof.
We were trying to protect the plants - not so much their leaves, but their fruit - from the four-legged Communist predators. We'd naively tried goodwill; we'd desperately tried negotiation. Now we were left with no choice - no choice, that is, except to build the DMZ (Dunham Menu Zone) as a frontier and boundary between our two competing powers and passions to stay alive.
This is our life now - forced to deal with metal and mesh in order to desperately cling to our hope for home-grown veggies. This is our struggle - to withstand the guerrilla attacks of various varmints in an effort to lower our food budget.
This is our conflict. This is Squirrel Nam.
I'm not sure if you've read "The $64 Tomato" by William Alexander but he has a lot of fun getting rid of groundhogs and the like.
It's quite a challenge.
Posted by: Rob Sharpe | July 10, 2009 at 01:20 PM
Time to invoke the Second Amendment.
Posted by: Jake Aharonian | July 10, 2009 at 03:33 PM
Fun post. Make sure you give an update.
Posted by: Marcie | July 10, 2009 at 06:17 PM
Funny. And impressive.
Posted by: Michelle- This One's for the Girls | July 10, 2009 at 11:41 PM
Have you considered a business for this? We'd hire you. We lost all our corn last summer. All 8 ears.
Posted by: Margaret | July 12, 2009 at 09:22 AM
I am duly impressed with your vegetable fortress.
Posted by: Chelsea | July 14, 2009 at 11:37 AM