I come yesterday afternoon and it was pretty sunny and hot. Well, as hot as the Bay Area gets anyway. I go outside to check on my plants and everything looks great. I start to head back inside when something catches my eye. Are some of the large peppers I was growing missing? My face begins to burn as I see a large pepper missing and one has the bottom tip missing. I also notice the bell peppers I had coming in are gone. Dismay. Shock. Rage.  Pleased, Yoda would not be.

There's one missing pepper on the ground a few feet away. A closer look reveals it has been chewed by something. I wouldn't put it past that pesky blue jay to have teeth but then I think it is unlikely he does. It must be a squirrel. What else can get onto a second floor balcony? I built a chicken wire enclosure earlier this spring and I begin to look it over. Yup, I had left a small gap open when I was watering the day before. Was this unknown animal coming by daily to look for an opening? The enclosure has been up for months and I wondered why it didn't lose interest in coming after goodies that were protected?

After much pondering, I came up with one of two theories:

1. The squirrels are smarter than I thought and regularly probe my defenses, encouraged by the ripening treasures behind the chicken wire.
2. The squirrels are so stupid that they forget the tomatoes and peppers are well protected and keep checking the enclosure regularly and happened to get lucky this once.
   

I want to think it is the combination of #2 and my negligence in properly closing the gaps. If it is #1, then I am in serious trouble. I doubt I will have time to sit on the balcony all day and night to watch over things. So I started thinking. Can I electrify the enclosure? There is an electrical outlet out there. What if I brought home a cobra and trained it to patrol the plants when I was not home? Then it hit me: if the critters liked peppers so much, why not buy a pound of habaneros and leave them within easy reach? Would this be an adequate deterrent without having to resort to more, uh, absolute solutions?

A quick internet search reveals that there are a large number of commercial and homemade solutions to the garden pest problems. It's good to know I am not alone. I will ponder my next move and hope I won't have to call in an expert like Carl Spackler.