Losing my marbles...uh, I mean peaches!

A few years ago we planted a peach tree in our backyard, and finally, this year it's producing fruit! I've been keeping an eye on those peaches all year, the girls have been super excited about them too. They would always give me the latest update in size or color change in them, and they would never dare pick one! I would say we had over 30 growing earlier this year...now, we have about 3 left...let me add, we have not even had one yet!!!! The thieves being my dogs...I love them, but man, can they drive me crazy!! In the beginning Cassidy could reach the low hanging ones, and Etta would run like crazy toward the tree and jump snatching them off in midair (kind of impressive really). Now that they've gotten all the low ones they have to get a little more creative. Cassidy has been on death's door several times this year with random illnesses, and her back legs are so bad she can barely hold herself up anymore. But when it comes to peaches, nothing stops her. I saw her the other day very carefully balancing herself on her hind legs and raising herself to get one. Of course I yell at her "NO!!" and race over there to protect my precious peach! Etta will grab hold of the lower branches and shake them vigorously until a peach falls. Now all that's left from my bounty are scattered peach pits throughout the yard...boo hoo.

So not only is that going with our poor tree, but it's also on the verge of falling over! During the latest storm, the wind blew it so hard that it's now leaning way over. So I got some stakes to secure it and then put a little fence around it to keep Etta from gnawing on the ties that are holding it in place. It's also helping to prevent her from gnawing directly on the truck of the tree, another favorite pastime for her. That poor tree has really endured a lot this summer...I hope it survives all the abuse! And hopefully I'll get to try at least one peach this year!!