After years of fighting squirrels, ground squirrels, rabbits and mice in my garden, I finally decided to get a cat. I'd tried traps and fox urine, but nothing seemed to keep the ground squirrels from tunneling under the patio (a section collapsed), stop the squirrels from chewing on the columns on my front porch(!) or keep the rabbits from devouring my echinacea and other perennials.
What I had in mind was a big, ugly barn cat that would live in the garage at night and prowl the garden by day. What I got instead, was Jake, a frisky kitten I bought while buying fish for my pond.
Here's Jake in June, 2008.
