decimation

if you take the word decimate at its military meaning of killing one in ten ( a fine roman tradition...one is reminded of calgacus' statement "they make a wilderness and call it peace." ) then we are well beyond that...i counted thirteen ears the critters ( squirrels are still the top suspects ) have destroyed...all or in part...they will come back for the partial ones...this is why i abandoned any sort of attempt at growing maize in my yard...it is simply too tempting for the critters out there..they are trying to make a living out there as well and now that they have discovered it the corn's days are short i'm afraid...we actually got some sweet corn and some hopi blue out of the garden last season..which surprised me...but we didn't get it all...critters moved in as the season drew to a close...this year they are early...the corn is not ripe enough to harvest yet ( bottom photo ) it still has a couple of weeks to run before it is edible for humans...i am not sanguine about it lasting until then...i could be wrong but bitter experience tells me i am not.