Destruction and Reparations - It Was a Full Circle Day

Yesterday seemed to be a day of destruction. From plants to gifts, things were broken and torn, and eventually reparations occurred (except from the deer). What deer? Here's the explanation. 

On Monday this was a wonderfully bushy, 
very healthy strawberry plant. On Tuesday 
morning, this sad remnant was all that the 
deer left from their browsing the night 
before. GRRRRR! 

While I was busy Monday night thinking about my tattoo, emailing my artist with the suggested revisions, and watching "American Ninja Warrior" (love that show), my garden was turning into a smorgasbord, not of my choosing or design. When DH went outside to check on the garden mid-morning Tuesday, he sent me photos of eaten strawberry plants. My bushy healthy plants that were just ready to bear some amazing, beautiful berries, had been munched by the deer! 

The ground-sitting strawberry pot had been a 
victim of the deer last year, but they made sure 
to hit it again this year too. *sigh*

I was appalled. Last year, every time my strawberry pot plant was about to bear and looked lovely, the deer cropped it down to next to nothing. Now, this year, the pattern seems to be repeating and I'm so sad. I still have berries on the poor plants, but the greenery and the nascent strawberries are gone. Down the belly of the beast! 

I have four of these strawberry pots hanging 
on a rod iron rack. They got two of my four 
plants plus the ground pot this time. There 
are still berries ripening on the plants they 
ate, but the shock of being eaten may kill 
the berries too. 

We do have lillies starting to bloom. That's making me a little happier. But still - my poor strawberries! GROWL!!! 

We do have our first lillies blooming now. That's 
at least going to give us a little color in the greenery. 

The other broken item was two mugs I had purchased. I misplaced my favorite tea mug, and wanted a replacement. Unable to make up my mind, and needed one for the shop as well, I ordered two, which arrived on Monday. (I then found my mug, so decided to gift the replacements as holiday gifts instead). Late in the day I unpacked the box to reveal ... broken handles. Not just broken at the top and bottom, but broken into pieces. I began the refund process Tuesday morning (including pictures) and by the evening I had the full refund back in my account and a note telling me to go ahead and toss the broken mugs away - that returning them would be unnecessary. At least one thing worked smoothly. I still have one more mug coming from a different source. Hopefully that one will arrive in one piece. 

I ordered two lovely mugs from an artist on Zazzle, and 
they arrived like this. I requested a refund, attached this 
photo, and had my refund in my account last night. It's 
disappointing. I was going to give these as holiday 
gifts, but now I'll need to find something else. 

And that's my week so far. My first load of laundry is already in the dryer, I have a lot of errands to do, and I get my weekly chat with Aearwen this afternoon. So I'd better get moving. Have a truly fabulous day, be kind, stay safe, and I'll be back tomorrow.