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Armadillo in my Garden!

October 28, 2015 By Talya Tate Boerner

Amadillo in the garden!

Each morning, I had to replant a few pansies here and there. At first, I blamed the squirrels, but as the problem grew worse, I began to suspect a different critter. Sunday morning I awoke to a freshly tilled flower bed and a tunnel under my porch. There’s an armadillo in my garden(!), and the nasty thing dug up most every flower. If you look closely at the picture above, you can see all the plants tossed around and NOT in the ground. So stinkin’ rude this digging, rooting, garden-wrecking creature.

I know he’s gotta eat, and his food of choice is grubs. So apparently I have grubs. Or maybe I only have one grub and he’s bound and determined to find it. Or maybe he’s digging to China where there’s a sale on grubs?

Only one way to take care of a problem like this.

Nip it.
Continue Reading

Boo! What would Gracie Lee do?

October 26, 2015 By Talya Tate Boerner

Boo! What would Gracie do?

(source: Buzzfeed)

What would Gracie Lee do? With Halloween only days away, she would spend all afternoon scheming up a costume using items in her closet. A hobo? A witch? Maybe a gypsy?

Gracie Lee has a colorful imagination and uses it to entertain herself. Sometimes it gets her out of tight spots. Sometimes, like that one certain Halloween, her imagination causes big trouble.Continue Reading

The case of the missing Halloween Bats.

October 24, 2015 By Talya Tate Boerner

the case of the missing Halloween batsPut on your Nancy Drew / Hardy Boys hats and think. If you were a bat, where oh where would you hide? Not a real bat (and not my mother, the BAT), but a bag of felt bats. This is the case of the missing Halloween bats.

I made these bats several years ago, and since then, they’ve been my favorite Halloween porch decoration. Pictured above is our Dallas porch, which for the record, I miss Munger Place most at Halloween…

Last October, we were just settling into our new home in Arkansas, so I chalked up the missing bats to overall moving chaos. This October, I’ve declared them LOST. Yesterday I looked everywhere(!) for them. In every drawer, every odd place, every plastic storage bucket in the garage. Everywhere except the exact somewhere I should have looked.

Please tell me this happens to you.Continue Reading

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Hi! I'm Talya Tate Boerner. Writer, Reader, Arkansas Master Naturalist / Master Gardener, Author of

THE ACCIDENTAL SALVATION OF GRACIE LEE (2016)

GENE, EVERYWHERE: a life-changing visit from my father-in-law (2020)

BERNICE RUNS AWAY (2022)

THE THIRD ACT OF THEO GRUENE (coming 2025)

Recent Ramblings:

  • Sunday Letter: 03.29.26
  • Sunday Letter: February 22, 2026
  • Our Garden Mission Statement
  • Goodbye, 2025. Hello, 2026.
  • Sunday Letter: 11.23.25

Novels:

Coloring Books:

Fiction-Themed Coloring Books

Backyard Phenology:

Children’s Nature Book:

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