Critters

Summer Frenemies

Earlier in the summer, I noticed Tilly caught in a stare at something outside of the porch window. I didn't pay much attention to it, but after a few minutes, baby Effy had joined her, and they were both just staring… and staring… Turns out they were quite enchanted with Fritz, the ground squirrel that hides in our downspout.

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Hello, Fritz! My, my, my, how thin you are! I'm sorry I didn't plant any pumpkins for you to engorge yourself on this year, you varminty gourd-glutton. Oh how sad that day was… late September, and my pumpkins were growing up to be bountiful tablescape decorations…  One morning, I made my walkabout to admire them in the early dew, and there they were, in all their drawn-and-quartered doom:

Death by Fritzing.

I was very tempted just then to let the girls out to play.

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But of course, I didn't.

Goodbye, little Fritz. We'll see you again in the spring, I'm sure, nibbling on all of my new green shoots, you ingluvious flower-fiend.

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(Despite his destructive tendencies, he is an awfully cute little thing, and I do smile every time I hear him scurrying up the downspout to hide when I walk by.)

ETA: I've gotten quite a few emails and comments about this little guy! He is technically a Thirteen Stripe Ground Squirrel, and is also called a Striped Gopher. 🙂

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