Wow! I complain about snails taking out a row of beans in a day, but a groundhog is major devastation!

Dogs are still a pretty good answer. Either scare them away or confront them.

The plumber is here replacing the thermostats and top valve on the water heater. It has been dribbling scalding water out in the side of the house, and I realized the moisture wasn't the typical amount from my condensation pump from the heat pump on that side of the house. The ground is really wet and very hot because the thermostat wouldn't turn off. It probably came close to cooking my Texas star hibiscus, we'll have to see how they do this summer. Anyway, the job is about finished and we'll have reasonable water temperature in the house now. The way it was, it was like having a 50 gallon insta-hot tank. The cost of replacing these is about half of replacing the entire tank, and I'm taking the gamble that the tank will last a few more years and make this repair worthwhile.

It's such an annoyance, when I'm struggling to make an efficient water delivery system for the yard, which is a big draw as the season progresses, only to realize that elsewhere it has been just running out at will, and I've been paying to superheat it to boot. Water and Electric bills next month will be high.

SRS