Woodchucks: 12, Me: 0

The battle is on!   I have not one, but perhaps three or four, woodchucks attacking my garden.  Do I have a fence?  No.  Do a have a decent scarecrow?  No.  I do have a garden angel.

But, as you can see from her expression, she's horrified!  They like my lettuce, my Swiss chard, my parsley, my nasturtiums...well, actually, they like everything.  I've been spending my days on constant vigil...watching for furry blobs headed up the hill to the salad bar.  Any advice is appreciated.

I promised to show you my new rug project.  It's a fun pattern designed by Tom McNerny.  He hooks in a wide cut (a #10), and I thought I'd try it...but it was too much for my poor hands, and hook, so I went back to a #8 cut.  He gave me some color tips and wool (thanks!) and off I went.  I am having fun with this.  Here's a little peek--or should I say peep!

My biggest challenge has been determining if I will have enough wool for the backgrounds.  I didn't have enough blues so I spent the other day dyeing up a batch of Robin's Egg Blue from Vintage Colors by Karen Kahle.  I dyed it over white, oatmeal, and a gray check.  I have a darker teal plaid that I'm weaving in as I go.  The blue/brown in the outside border I got at a hook-in this year and it was the wool I more or less color planned around.  I hope it makes it around the whole border, but I can always add more to the outside edge which I'm doing in antique brown.  There's a nice big chicken in the center of the rug, which I'll be tackling today, in between guard duty.

Elsewhere in the garden, my butterfly bush is making good on it's promise to bring butterflies to the garden.

Tomatoes are starting to ripen.  Hopefully I can keep the varmints away long enough to actually enjoy these.

By the way, is it too late to plant Sweet Annie seeds?  I just got a pack and thought I try it by the shed.

Have a lovely day, everyone!