Of Gardens and an adorable Pest

I've been catching up on the garden today.

It seems just yesterday there was a snow drift out there -

and all of the sudden there are daisies.

Daisies that are literally taking over the garden.

But that really doesn't bother me yet.

I picked our first strawberries of the year too -

a whopping total of six.

But there will be more soon.

A lot more...

So, I was busily hilling the potatoes - and attempting to

get an area ready for one of the varieties of green beans that

we are trying this year.

If it weren't for this little guy -

I would have been a lot more productive.

Problem number one:

He can't rationalize how on earth I can dig in the garden

all day; and then turn around him and scold him

for doing the same thing.

What a hypocrite I am.

Secondly,

He had a bad case of 'go fetch' on the brain today.

He kept throwing his basketball at me.

I tried ignoring him for awhile -

but I can only handle a dog sitting right where I'm

attempting to plant green beans for so long.

I tried telling him to go away;

but something about the garden makes him deaf;

He just kept staring at me.

So I threw it over the fence -

and he immediately tore right through the lettuce patch,

stomping the potatoes, barely grazing a tender

pepper plant.

Last week we had five pepper plants.

We're down to four now.

I covered my eyes as obliterated lettuce leaves

rained from the sky.

Three seconds later:

he was back.

Spencer is not healthy for gardens.

(Freshly hilled potato plants...)

Somehow the green beans managed to get planted;

and I decided to quit, before Spencer turned everything

into coleslaw.

Between him and the cats -

it's a wonder anything even bothers coming up around here.

We've got some hardy vegetables,

and thankfully,

we had a surplus of lettuce this year.

But as far as pepper plants go -

it looks like we'll be buying another one.