my nemesis.

Yeah, yeah, I know that many of you are thinking, "awwwww.....look at the cute squirrel."  Judging from the proliferation of product with that adorable squirrel image-dishtowels, notebooks, lamps, earrings-people love squirrels.  Well, I hate them.  That sounds horrible, I know, and really, I too used to think they were cute, but after 2 summers of destruction from the demon squirrels inhabiting our yard, I am ready to declare war.

We seem to be in some sort of squirrel bermuda triangle.  They live in big trees to one side of our house, and eat from the bird feeders in the neighbors yard on the other side of the house. Our yard is like the rest stop along their squirrel highway.  "Ok, everybody out-use the bathroom, grab a snack and get rid of all that extra energy before we get back on the road."   I'm sure that my neighbors have gotten used to my daily morning ritual of walking out to check on my gardens and promptly letting out a string of curses upon seeing the latest damage.

My first round of vegetable plants were swiftly ripped from their tiny pots and deposited, sans roots, on the ground.  I tried plants in the ground, in pots, on the deck close to the house, but nearly every one was dug up by the squirrels.  I was holding out hope for 2 tomato plants and 1 pepper plant that made it through the summer.  They had 4 tomatoes and 1 pepper hanging on for dear life, but as soon as they got to a decent size and started to ripen, they were plucked off, nibbled on and deposited on the ground. 

My vegetables were not the only squirrel target, as it seems that they also like to dig in any sort of pot or container that I put out.  I would set out to water my plants only to discover a gaping hole dug into the middle of my pot and half the plants uprooted.  I once found an entire corn cob stuck into the middle of my begonia pot.

Now that fall has arrived, I would normally adorn my front steps with pumpkins and gourds, but the squirrels thwart that as well.  They nibble large holes in all the pumpkins, and last year I saw one squirrel drag an entire gourd up a tree.

When we lived in the country, with a front yard full of large trees that were full of squirrels, I did not have any of these problems.  Is this just a case of "those darn city squirrels"? 

Help.