So this year, for the first time, I planted corn. I planted about seven or
eight rows of twenty stalks. Soon after planting we had about three days of
torrential rain, which washed away alot of soil--my garden is on a slight
slope. So, I replanted. They came up fine, got to about two feet tall and fell
over during another storm. No problem--put them bag up, hill up around them,
and keep going. Then another really bad storm and a few fell over. I left them
for the next day to fix, but in the middle of the night something came and ate
the ears that had fallen. At first I suspected squirrels, but those critters
aren't usually active at night. Over the course of the past few weeks nearly
*all* my corn has been eaten. I've had out have-a-heart traps, I've sat and
watched it during the day (from distance), nothing. Nothing in the traps,
nothing visible. Lots of corn-filled-poop around the garden, though.

Finally, last night I caught sight of the creature doing it--my
next-door-neighbor's very old, nearly broken-down dog. Lucky I spotted him,
because I was on the verge of "painting" the remaining half-dozen or so ears
with rat poison. This damn dog (which in the past has turned over our garbage,
etc.) has systematically stripped almost every single ear of corn from my
plot. I'm going over to talk to the owner of the dog today, but unfortunately
the guy is the county/city judge, so I can't make alot of legal threats. But
it is taking every ounce of self-control I have not to simply shoot the dog. I
wasn't so mad when I thought it was a raccoon, I could kind of accept
it--nature doing its thing and all. But and irresponsible neighbor ruining
three to four months of hard work and all my corn is a bit more aggravating.
Out of the 150 stalks of corn, I'm going to be lucky to get ten ears. That's
not right.





Andrew