I was in a really bad place, quite depressed, and very, very upset! At first it was the snails that ate up my strawberries and veggies, then Sheila's bally peacocks joined in, and as if that was not enough to make my face as long as the roads between the Karoo towns, the moles came.

I had by now tried everything, from moth balls to dog poo, and cat littered sand, and now the children's chickens had found their way into my garden, and the Kuk-kuks with their huge clawed feet just scratched out any little plant that had escaped the mole's corridors.

So one morning, after first almost tearing out my hair when I found that the peacoks had been in again during the night, and there were no almost ripe strawberries left, and the few baby marows that had miraculously survived the onslaught of the snails, had all disappeared, I knew I had to take drastic action!

Must say, did NOT know that some of the words I used was in my vocabulary, but I called down the wrath of all gods onto my persecuters, or rather the persecuters of my garden

Somebody up or around me must have taken pity on me, as a very bright idea suddenly popped into my stressed brain, and I ran for my material box, where I scratched around feverishly for some calico. Now followed some backbreaking work, as I tied a piece of calico around a few strawberries that I gathered together untill my whole patch was covered, looking very strange, but I had high hopes that at least no snail would get into my covers, and I prayed that the peacocks would not realize the fact that their nightly treats were inside the calico.
But as I was so stressed out about the peacocks, and not knowing if they would realize that I was trying to fool them, I decided to gather some stones and lie in wait for them, but had a little snooze till two am, and when my alarm went off, I sneaked outside, my catapult ready for war!
They came at about three, first flying onto my roof to check out whether it was safe for them to raid my garden, and then they flew down, but they must have been utterly confused by the calico bundles, as they just strutted around, making funny noises, and that was when I decided to strike! I carefully put a nice round stone into my catapult, took aim at the biggest peacock that was strutting about with his beautiful tail all spread out, I suppose to show his disgust, and let rip! It was a kolskoot (in the spot), and this cock gave one terrifying scream before he took off with wings flapping feverishly, with the other lot hot on his heels.
My kids were of course in stitches about my calico covers, but the snails were now baffled and could not reach them, and the peacocks had such a fright that they stayed away for a while, so for about a week I had strawberries ripening in peace, and I at least had that from all my hard work!