Caught in the act!

Caught this young groundhog shamelessly munching on our oregano yesterday. I've named him Nigel in honour of a friend's cat. Wish the cat (who recently died :-( ) was in our garden yesterday. Nigel The Cat would surely have made short work of Nigel The "Eating Machine" Groundhog.



I formally apologize to the squirrels of our neighbourhood for blaming them for the destruction of some of my plants -- though I DO still blame them for digging up my seedlings since I've caught THEM in the act as well -- since it looks as if Nigel is the culprit.



Many mornings and afternoons, we'll find Nigel lazily lounging on our new deck in exactly the same spot. I used to think he was cute but now that I know that he's EATING OUR PLANTS it's clear that the cuteness is just a mask for his Evil Groundhog Soul.

I'm positive he's been collaborating with the neighbourhood squirrels, probably called in as the big artillery like when the orcs called in the cave troll in Moria.

Why I haven't been Blathering much lately

For those who have missed my Blatherings (aw, thank you!), it's because I've been doing a lot of writing and prep for the SCBWI conference in L.A. in a couple of weeks, plus trying to "meet" others who are attending so I won't arrived a COMPLETE stranger.

As I mention in the announcements section of Blatherings, I post in Inkygirl much more frequently than this blog (usually several times a day, with new and old cartoons) plus I'm Twittering. If you're on Livejournal, you can subscribe to the Inkygirl feed here.

If you're a writer on Twitter, you can follow @inkyelbows. I also use this account to post links to new writer cartoons, including Will Write For Chocolate and Countdown To The SCBWI Convention.

If you're a non-writer, you probably want to follow my personal account at @debohi instead.

I also have a VERY chatty account I use for @replies and online Twitter chats at @debbieohi. Here's why I have three accounts.

Comments

[jama]

Nigel is adorable and those are great photos of him. We have a groundhog, Mr. Donnelly, whom I've been trying to photograph for years. I imagine we are fond of him because he doesn't eat our plants (no garden or anything).

Have fun at SCBWI next month!

[Technoshaman]

Hey, at least Nigel has good taste! Oregano, om nom nom!

[Irfon-Kim Ahmad]

Hee! Adorable little oregano thief!

[Jeff Bohnhoff]

Nigel is probably just an advance agent for the squirrels.

[Cat Faber]

Wow.

GREAT photos of Nigel. Very impressive! I love the "smoking gun" photo of him with the sprig of oregano in his thieving mouth as he looks around for the cops.

[Tibicina]

Oooh! When are you going to be in L.A.? And are you going to have any free time while here?