deer

deer are a great threat to a garden,
and just because no one has seen one in a long time does not mean they are not out there

deer prints in the unfenced squash plot...

and here are the tops of a potato missing (the deer have to be very hungry to eat something so toxic)

and it is not the only one

they are also eating the squash leaves that are toxic

good thing they have not figured out how tasty the grape leaves are

you can eat deer, and that is one way to keep them from eating your garden,
if the deer eat your garden, then you eat them, it is called a protean converter,
but they are great ninjas, and you have to do pretty good to catch one.

a fence usually works to keep them out,
just make sure they have no where to land if they jump the fence, 
they will not jump if there is no clear landing spot

on another topic:
I found out that a black widow spider died the day that the ants started to die, and all the ants died in that ant hill,
black widow spiders and ants are very resistant to dying,
makes me really want to know what went wrong

here is a black widow spider in case you are wondering what one looks like (and this one is doing just fine)

and here is a kitty that was hanging out near that spider