Gloria P wrote:

>
>
> I just got home from an errand and opened the sliding glass door to the
> patio to cool off the house (75 deg. inside, 71 outside) only to see SIX
> raccoons in or around the grape vine on the overhead trellis. The ones
> on the ground scampered all of about 6 feet away, waiting for me to
> leave so they could continue to eat the grapes, still green but very
> plentiful this year.
>
> I had hoped to make grape juice this year but they always beat me to it,
> about a week before the grapes begin to show any sign of ripening. The
> raccoons live in our storm sewers and have become way too aggressive
> over the years.
>
> Made a second batch of zucchini bread today for the freezer. The garden
> is very marginal this year. The flowers are doing very well, as are
> the weeds, due to all the rain. Moderate temperatures have been very
> comfortable, but they don't do much for the tomatoes.

Aside from the rabbits, which my JRT regards as a gourmet treat, the
worst pest I've faced this season is my daughter's puppy, Floyd.

Floyd is an enormous border collie X shepherdy-ish mix who was rescued
off the streets in Warrenton. He's about 8 months old currently.
Because he developed pano (basically, acute growing pains), he's been
placed on a restricted diet to control his weight gain and minimize the
stress on developing bones and joints.

He's so extremely goofy that it's impossible not to like him. He
prefers to take the sliding board down off the deck rather than use the
stairs. He allows a 4 pound kitten to boss him around. When he's
excited, his ears stand up, but tilt towards each other so they cross in
the middle, while his eyes appear to be staring off in two different
directions. His field of vision must be incredibly broad. He has no
concept of his own size, or where his body happens to be in space at any
given time. He's constantly crashing into things, knocking stuff over,
cracking his head while turning around... His call name has become
'Boogle'.

However, he has decided to supplement his diet with tomatoes from the
garden. It wouldn't really be a problem - we've got plenty - except
that he has to jump the fence to get in there, and then he tramples the
plants. Looks like a herd of elephants has passed through. And
tomatoes really don't agree with him. To put it bluntly, after a tomato
bender, his farts could peel paint.

It's not worth messing with this year, but I've told my husband, next
year that fence has to be higher.