America's Most Wanted

It has been a constant battle this year to have even a semblance of a garden.  The drought, bugs, crows, opossums, and now the Racoons.  This is our latest catch--and she was a fighter.  I didn't know that they growl like a dog--We caught her Saturday night.  We baited live traps with Shad (a small bait fish) and I guess the racoons loved them.  They were all gone.  She does have a happy ending though.  We relocated her about 5 miles from the house.  Hopefully, that is far enough away to keep her from the garden.  They really like watermelons.  They will bite or scratch a small hole in the melon and then clean it completely out.  We have probably lost about 30 melons and Cantaloups this hear from all of the critters.  We baited the traps again last night and caught another raccoon.  We relocated this one also.  They are little bandits-that's
for sure.  Thankfully, for this year, the gardening  is

just about over.  It has been to extreme.
We water almost every night and still can't seem to make a dent against the dryness of the soil.  Most of my plants are struggling.  I long for the fall months.
On a lighter note, I did make it up to the studio this weekend and even completed a piece.  I have had an order for some time for a  "Pearls of Wisdom" piece. I completed that--will try to take a picture of it tonight and post it tomorrow- and I got a start on another piece.  You know, there is so much drying time in-between the projects.  I wrote Henry's Poem Saturday.  I miss him so much--it just doesn't seem real for him to be gone.  It happened to quick and I was unprepared.  My heart hurts for him.  I know that he was "just a dog" and non-dog people many not understand.  But I rescued Henry and he showed so much gratitude.  I know you're wondering "now, how does a dog do that"?  He showed it in a thousand ways.  He showed in his actions and in his eyes, in the way that he looked at me and the way that he loved me.  He will be missed for a very long time.  Hope that you all have a great evening--F.