You really have sharp critters in your neck of the woods, they have good taste in food and are bilingual.

LOL. I was feeling all sad for the critters, too, so as I pull bolted broccoli, I'm taking it across the street to a vacant house and leaving it for the neighborhood bunnies. Don't want them to come to MY house, though!

Last year, the neighborhood bunnies, which are feral, black and white cuties were so desperate. After I harvested the little winter garden in the front yard (garlic, onions, lettuce and herbs) I left the netting off. By July they had even the bits of leftover garlic and onions eaten down to the ground.

PunkinHeadJones, My dogs would like to put in a request for some ripe tomatoes. They said Thank you in advance. They will eat everyone of them, if you don't have a fence around them.
lisak

PunkinheadJones,

The good news is that they didn't leave you several MORE bags of zucchini and also the ever-popular yellow squash. Surely that bit of kindness and consideration has earned the deer one measley tomato?

Dawn

Mine have left notes asking me to hook up a hose to the old chicken waterers I leave out to water my cats. Everything from the bunnies up know where my water bowls are. I have them for my cats so they don't have to climb on the horse tanks to drink when it is hot. In this intense heat they are usually dry by the time I get home so they asked me to hook them up to the hose. Although food is scarce many of them eat at my hay stack. Just a long as they don't decide my garden is a fresh homegrown deli. Jay

Jay, I put out water every morning and every evening because all our ponds are dry now except for one, and it just has a few inches of yucky, mucky water. Well, the lily pond has water and I'm sure they drink from it at night, but not during the daytime because it is right beside the dog yard fence.

The deer are coming at mid-day (which I find odd) to drink from the big wildlife puddle that sits about 15' from our back porch doorway. Surely some of the creeks still have water, and the river obviously does, but maybe they don't want to travel that far in this heat.

I not only have 3 in-ground wildlife drinking holes, but some big black feed pans filled with water and some galvanized buckets and 5-gallon buckets. If I can keep the wild things hydrated, they're less likely to destroy my plants and fruits for water.

Last night I was outside until well after dark, and in the twilight I watched all kinds of animals come to drink and to eat from the piles of deer corn, sunflower seeds and hen scratch I put out for them. The cardinals were splashing and bathing in one of the wildlife puddles and other birds and rabbits nearby were drinking and eating. The deer were lurking in the woods, apparently waiting for me to go inside. One was eying the garden fence as if contemplating whether or not he could clear the 7' fence. He made me nervous because I think he could jump it if he wanted to.

A feral mama cat has brought her 4 adorable babies to live on the front porch, where at least they can stay shaded and cool and, of course, have fresh cool water and food. I've been feeding her for a while now but she always ate, drank and then went off into the woods to wherever her babies were, and she'll let me pet her every now and then, but the babies are still terrified of people and run and hide if they see you. I worry that something will get them at night, but there's not much I can do about it because they won't come inside the house. I expect that once we can catch them all, we'll get them neutered and try to find homes for them.

It is a hard summer for every living thing, and likely to get worse before it gets better.

Dawn