LOL, Jim! I have a cat, but short of stapling him to the windowsill I can't really keep him on duty all the time. (The yowling wouldn't be worth it.)

Of course, if he had his way, I'd just open the window and he would run around on the roof. This might keep the squirrels away. But it would probably cause more damage than it prevented, because Magellan would eat all of the catnip, mint, chives, and mini roses - in short, everything but the strongly scented oregano, lavender and rosemary.

The good news is, we just had some rain and it settled the soil in the boxes. In retrospect I think the squirrels were attracted to them because I'd just dug in them to put in some new herbs. I put some new wood chips on, they're kind of splintery. Hopefully this will take care of the problem.

(Chuckling about Jenny's pidgeons) It's crazy how much wildlife a few potted plants will attract. (well it's more than a few in her case.) In the past three years I've had several colonies of anole lizards, lots of spiders, and birds that peck for bugs in the dirt. But until now they haven't been this destructive. Well, except those wrens who picked all the thyme!