Creepy Crawlies and Fuzzy Wuzzies

September Writing Challenge - Prompt #6:

Creatures

The other day I was in my in-laws' raspberry patch picking berries while bees flew around my head. Zoe was there for a minute, but she left because of the bees. I told her that when you grow fruits and vegetables, you have to get comfortable sharing space with creatures. She didn't like that and said (with much sass), "It's not like I ever wanted to be a farmer!" 

Okay then.

This year, we’ve had more bees in our yard than ever before. I hoped this would help with our garden. Ya know, pollination and stuff. But we had a lot of crops that put forth a really disappointing yield. We hardly got any zucchini (a strange occurrence for our area - zucchini is easy and abundant!), all of our pumpkins that started growing shriveled up and died, and our corn basically rotted out before it was ready to pick. I feel like the bees didn’t have my back. It’s like they just used me for my sunflowers. 

I’ve been BEEtrayed!

Recently I found a new creature hanging about, and I can’t help wondering what he wants from me. 

It's a grasshopper - look closely

Other creature facts from recent months:

1. We have had so many earwigs in our garden, yard, and (yikes!) house this year. I've heard that they are attracted to sunflowers, but I don't know if that's true (and Google isn't giving me much to work with).
2. A month ago, we had two mountain lions in our area. One day at the zoo they had a "cougar awareness" booth, and I stopped by and talked to a guy from the DWR that was manning the booth. He told me that he'd been on site when they tranquilized and relocated one of the mountain lions in our area (there were rumors circulating in our neighborhood that the DWR wouldn't relocate the animals and would actually euthanize them. I asked the guy about that, and he said, in this case, they were able to relocate the cougar). While they were waiting for the tranquilizer to take, the second cougar (which had, up until that point, not been confirmed) appeared. They weren't able to get it, though, and they went around the area where it has been spotted and checked people's yards. 
3. Racoons are not unknown to our area, but they've usually stuck to fields. This summer, they've taken over the hood. There was a dead one in front of our house one day, and last week, when I was walking with my friend in the early morning, there was a dead one lying in the grass at the park. 
4. Squirrels are also not unknown to our area, but they usually stay in certain areas (i.e. not my yard). This year, there have been squirrels everywhere. Still not in my yard (that I've seen), but I see one bounding across my neighbor's driveway across the street on the regular. There have also been some dead ones in the road.
5. We've also had deer in our neighborhood. Head five miles west, and deer are a bit more common. If they are here, they are definitely lost.

There are a lot of creatures I haven't had to protect my garden from, but with the appearance of some anomalies lately, I won't be surprised if I have to start deer and racoon proofing my yard within the next few years (let's hope not, though. I don't need that kind of chaos in my life).