Day 4

I won’t say I woke up this morning to a Dantesque spectacle — that would be a stretch — but it was chaotic. Yesterday, I didn’t bother to put all the scattered soil back in place or replant the lettuce that had been pulled up. Now there are a dozen new holes in the ground and pieces of aluminum foil scattered all over the garden. Robin Food — that’s the blackbird’s name now — has been running wild again, much to my chagrin.

So, what’s next? I really don’t know. All I know is that I refuse to spend money on anti-bird nets — not just because of the cost, but also because they’re downright ugly. I’m starting to struggle with one side of my conscience that says, “Poor thing, he’s just being a bird,” and the other that relentlessly goes, “Are you stupid? Don’t you remember how much work you’ve put into this garden, not to mention the time and money?”

I still have a couple of solutions left: one is to spray cinnamon and pepper on the ground, and the other is to build a kind of barrier using fishing line. Though, to be honest, I don’t have much faith in either of them. If Robin Food gets tangled in it, I'll have to make a tough decision.