As it was still early enough in the season to plant certain veggies, specially rocket, spinach and some of the pumpkin families, I prepared a small patch where I hoped that I could control the creeper moles, as they were more or less concentrated around the house. This patch was a bit down, and closer to the river, and I had first to remove a load of stones, a backbreaking job, but there was no other way if I wanted fresh organic food. None of the many mole killing ideas people gave me worked, and I was by this time feeling a great hate against the wee rascals. So with Skramunkel breathing down my neck, feeling neglected, as I did not have time to play with her, nudging me until I took notice, I kept up the slog until I had a nice, well manured patch.
Ronalee phoned to say that she had a lot of seedlings, so the next morning I ambled up to her place, but found her in a state of distress, and she  informed me that she got to her garden that morning, and found a lot of her seedlings that she had just planted two days ago all wilted and dying! Up to now she was creeper mole free, and I could always buy some veggies from her, that is after my whole crop was destroyed, but the reason I was living this kind of life was to try and become independent of the shops with their poisoned stuff, and seeing my plants all wilted in the mornings after a mole attack, made me quite depressed!
However, she still had some spinach and also a few rocket seedlings she could spare, so I had to settle for being without any other veggies of my own growing until I went back to Scotland.
I was feeling very satisfied when I stood looking at my new veggie path with the neat rows of spinach, rocket, and also a few iceberg salad plants, and prayed fervently that it would not come under the notice of the moles or the snails!
Then disaster struck again, as when I went to my strawberry patch with my bucket to pick some for breakfast, I found all the calico covers pulled off, and not even one of the many strawberries that was almost ready the previous day, left. Only a few fermenting heaps of peacock poop gave evidence of the raid during the night, and I just lost it and screamed up to the heavens, wanting to know why the bally lot could not fall over and die. I was becoming quite antagonistic towards Sheila, as I knew that it would be a waste of time to go and complain about her peacocks, as she would just tell me again to shoot them, knowing that of course I could never do that.
Skramunkel must have felt my disgust and knew that I was in distress, as she stood at the fence, whinnying softly, and when I went to her, she laid her head against me without her usual rough playfulness, and after a while I felt myself calming down, but then the tears came, as it was such a disappointment to loose such a beautiful crop of berries!
I was quite depressed, as there was just so many odds against me, and not having a man to do the hard work, and not being able to find anybody prepared to do the hard work every time I had to replant or make a new patch, I was wondering if it was worth trying to live this bio-friendly and free life!