Alvin!

Day 229
The Daily DuBrule

I am basically a peaceful person. I embrace all of God's creatures and work very hard to create the peaceable kingdom both in my backyard and around my garden center. But right now, I am feeling very angry at...wait for it...chipmunks! Since the spring they have been wreaking havoc on my gardens. They dug up so many bulbs I wondered if there would be any left. Yes, the Colchicums survived the chipmunk onslaught but I bet the tulips and crocuses are history. Did I take action? No. I moaned and I groaned but I didn't do a thing.

This was the scene at Natureworks in May

The Colchicums weren't bothered by the chipmunks

All summer long the chipmunks have been running to and fro at Natureworks. They climbed up the Lilium stalks and ate our lilies right before our eyes. This week they are eating pansy flowers. Pumpkins? So far we have had to write off more than I want to discuss because they find them so tasty. Still, have I set any traps? Done anything at all? Nope.

Two years ago when we had a plague of chipmunks, Mother Nature took care of them. I meet the crew at seven a.m.  We all saw a weasel each morning and voila! No more chipmunks. I assume the coyote got the weasel (pop!) because this year, Alvin and all of his buddies are back.

Thursday afternoon I hit the wall. After working in the rain and drizzle for days, wading through knee deep poison ivy and pucker brush to create a native landscape, fielding calls from clients trying to arrange jobs despite the weather, I was feeling pretty low. It was then that my mechanic called to tell me about the $600+ repair on our red pickup truck due to...wait for it... a chipmunk nest in the alternator that not only ruined the alternator but also the housing or whatever you call it that connects it to the rest of the truck. Okay, that's it, I'm done. Alvin, you're beyond "cruisin' for a bruisin". You're toast. 

Not that I know exactly what I am going to do or even if I did, not that I would share that gruesome information with you. All I know is, I am DONE da dum dum DONE with this nonsense. Peacable, smeeshable, I don't want to cross paths with another chipmunk for a long time. Oh, and by the way, they came into the retail store yesterday. The nerve! Jane chased them out with proper dramatic flair. They heard we had boxes and boxes of delicious bulbs and they were all out on the buffet shelves, no digging needed. I can only imagine some morning at the crack of dawn opening the doors and finding chipmunks lying around the shop, sleeping off their gorging rampage because we didn't chase all of them out like we thought. Sigh....