The Joke Is On Him.

Once I descended the staircase in my castle this morning, as every princess does, the first view that generally greets me is the Veg Garden in all of its glory. So, imagine my dismay this morning when I saw this...

Perhaps a little closer view....

Argh! I put on my MAC jacket (every princess has one of those too, right?), my flip-flops and then myself and the GREAT Squirrel CROW Hunter gathered our wits and ran out the door to chase them off. (I think we sent them Itchy's way.) Then, it was time to survey the damage. I considered calling the SF and advising him of the SI-CHU-A-SHUN, but didn't want to upset him. As I got closer I realized it wasn't his garden they were attacking. It was mine! My poor circle garden!

What were they after? In the past, the crows had ripped apart some seedlings and I thought perhaps they were intrigued by the sweet peas. However, as I drew nearer I noticed the only thing that was up-ended were the name tags I had painstakingly written on, with indelible ink and my best penmanship. Each label detailed the 30+ varieties of seeds that I had broadcast across the red earth. Now they had been uprooted and lay lifeless on the earth's surface. Dead Soldiers fallen awkwardly amongst the seedlings (and weeds). Damn Crows! Are they just trying to confuse me or what? Are they trying to test my memory on what beauties lie where? Do they think they have outsmarted me? Are they watching us from the trees above mocking us, laughing at us? I can imagine the thoughts that were probably going through that trouble maker's mind. "I'm going to take this one here and put it there. And, this one here, I'll place over yonder. Heeheee! Now we've royally (I am a princess of course) F'd her up, Boys!" In all honesty, I think it was Itchy's crow, Russell...Russell Crow, of course. Itchy warned me about him and his wily ways of running away with plant tags. Apparently he really likes the fancy expensive metal ones. If anything, he has good taste. Well, the jokes on Russell because first off, he isn't aware that I have the diligently constructed "Pot O' Gold" map for the Circle Garden. And second....the names had actually worn off the tags. The sunlight had faded the ink to the point that they couldn no longer be read. Evidently Russell isn't as smart as he'd like us to think, if he was he might have noticed they were blank! So. The joke is on him. Russell Crow - kick rocks!

(postscript....Later that afternoon I was over at Itchy's house doing a garden tour when Cabot, her prince, put the chase on what might have been Russell. Did she secretly know I was giggling inside? Wait! Was he heading back to my garden?)

Since we are already in the garden, here is a bit of an updated tour.
Tomatoes and Lettuce (See! We have already had a harvest.)

Here's a closer look at the Mesclun Lettuce. We had a sweet salad with some sliced red onion, strawberries, feta cheese and balsamic dressing. So good! Keep up the good work, Farmer Mac!

Tomatoes with Rookie's Berry Patch in the Rear.

Brussel Sprouts

Pole Beans

My zucchini patch complete with nasturtiums and marigolds. Freshly weeded.

There he is, the Great Crow Hunter guarding his Daddy's Brussel Sprouts.

THE END.