Garden tails.....er tales.

During the decade that we've lived in this house,

I've found a few buried treasures in my flower beds.

Mostly I find peanuts buried by the neighborhood squirrels.
The thing that annoys me is that they pull out perfectly healthy
flowers from my pots and replace them with their winter snacks.

So far, they've left our window boxes alone.

Do you remember my blindingly bright turquoise bicycle?

After 2 years it's finally starting to fade and rust is coming through the paint.

The birds pecked apart my pretty straw basket liner, so I replaced it with
 a discount potted plant a few weeks ago.  When I went to water it the other day,
 I noticed what appeared to be a huge mushroom growing under the leaves.

Nope, not a mushroom.

A cheeseburger.

Now, this presents a real mystery.

We are gluten free in this house so unless somebody was secretly eating a Big Mac
and stuffed it into the plant to avoid getting caught, it was stashed there by a squirrel.
  Unlikely, you say?

Oh, you haven't seen the Iron Range squirrels in action!
I've watched one of them haul a corn cob across our busy street........and survive!
Although, unless it was wearing a rodent back pack, I do wonder how in the heck
 a squirrel got its hands on a cheeseburger and delivered it intact to its hiding spot.

I guess it's just one of the unexplained phenomena here at 911.

The thieves have also removed half of the flowers from this pot.

My wine barrel has remained untouched by the little critters,
although something is eating the sweet potato vine.

It appears 3 of those somethings are nibbling on my daisies.
Oooo, that sounds kind of risque.  hehe

My Annabelle hydrangeas never let me down and seem to
be immune to all the hungry bugs in my garden.

Knock on wood!!!

Speaking of wood.....

Our robins have been extra busy building nests in the trees,
 on the fence, and under the garage eaves.
Oh, no! It looks like something took a great big bite out of our fence!
I have come face-to-face with a woodchuck in the alley, but I think they prefer
their snacks at ground level.  Can you picture a woodchuck wearing mountain climbing gear?
Yodel ay hee hoo!

My clematis is at its peak right now.

I've let the perennials do as they please in front of our garage,
which was a floral shop back in the 70's.  Imagine the short walk to work!

My next garden surprise was even more unwelcome than the mischievous squirrels.

As I was snipping off a spent rose, a Japanese beetle reared its
ugly horned head out to greet me.  Eek!  After conferring with Dr.Google,
I'm feeling pretty discouraged about the next few years of gardening.
It seems the garden pests have a 3 year cycle of eating just about anything green.  ugh

Earlier this summer, I dug out the 3 blades of grass I coaxed to grow under

our giant mock orange shrub and replaced them with hosta from our shade garden.
As you can clearly see, it's a work in progress.

As I was sifting through the soil, I unearthed a little piece of history.

Isn't it adorable?

I'm guessing this cute little car (about the size of a quarter) belonged to
 the original owner's son, which would make it almost as old as our 93 year old house.
Finally, a buried treasure worth keeping!

Thanks for visiting and be on the lookout for supersized McSquirrels!

Vickie

I'm joining the party at:

Cozy Little House Tweak it Tuesday
Mod Vintage Life Mod Mix Monday