Snail War Saga

This has been the summer of snails. If you're my Facebook friend, you may have seen a few posts bewailing the proliferation of snails in my flower/garden beds this year.

Will started plucking the night-time marauders when he took Zeek out at bedtime, and I too would remove them every time I saw them while watering and weeding. We filled many empty disposable plastic jars of these beasts. In spite of this, when I splurged on some bigger, more expensive plants for some of my big flowerpots, the snails found them so delectable that they completely chewed them up. One evening on my rounds I got SIX SNAILS descending into one corner of my strawberry bed. It was horrifying.

One evening, I volunteered to keep my sister Jean's beautiful children. When we came back from the park, her oldest, Cody, was delighted to help me on the snail roundup. I was concerning about keeping an eye on the little ones while we were focused on snails, but we found a great solution.

They love the dog kennel, really. They entered it on their own. Well, the first time anyway. I am a wonderful babysitter. You can trust me to keep  your children safe any time. We released the children from the kennel before their cries became loud enough to alert the neighbors. Just kidding. More importantly, Cody and I eliminated about a dozen snails!

The Facebook posts below describe a few especially annoying snail incidents:

July 10: The war I wage with snails intensified again tonight - while picking blueberries I observed one lurking on a leaf of the later blueberry bush that hasn't ripened yet. Talk about forbidden fruit! Snail bait has been liberally dispensed around the property.

July 13: Good grief. I noticed something on the end table in my dimly lit living room as I walked through. I picked it up and found a dried snail shell in my hand. (But not for long!) That takes my Snail War Saga to a whole new level. Can't imagine how it got there. Would one of my sons play such a cruel practical joke? Worse yet, did it invade my house, crawl up there and die all by itself? Did it lay some eggs somewhere that will hatch and take over first my house, and then the world?

While camping with family members at the Metolius few weeks ago, I walked into a discussion where I heard someone saying I seemed to have an obsession with snails. I don't think that's quite fair. Can I help it if snails are out to destroy my potted flowers, my strawberries, my blueberries, my rosebushes, and now perhaps even my very own living room? They are everywhere! I am not obsessed, people! I am a perfectly sane, rational person who is under attack!

During that camping trip, we shopped in Redmond one day with Doug and Anisa. Soon after, I was very amused to discover that an unbelievably huge snail had mysteriously appeared on our picnic table.

Now that has to be the classiest snail I've ever seen. Ok, it's the only classy snail I've ever seen. Real pearls and everything!  Turns out, Anisa spotted it at Big R and told Doug she had to buy it for me, no matter how much it cost! Doug helpfully pointed out some scratched paint so they got a discount! I hope they aren't broke the rest of the month after paying for that fancy pearl necklace. I never did ask just how many hundred dollars they must have spent on that beauty. I had no idea they cared so much. It almost made up for the hurtful comments about my supposed snail obsession. 

It was also perfect for watering the flower pots that I brought camping! I shall try to give it a place of honor on my camping tables forever in the future. 

I now haven't seen a snail for a couple of days. I definitely have the upper hand in this war at the moment. But I will not let down my guard!