Rat wars and epistemology

This is the time of year that brings on the rat wars. The stream bed is drying up in places, vegetation is getting dry-weather tough and the rats descend on my gardens (such as they are). I have been unsuccessful in growing carrots the last two years, and this year they have actually done well in the tiny raised bed and in the large pot where I planted them. I have felt great joy in eating a couple every time I water the plants. The variety is Nantes, the carrots my grandmother always grew in our garden. They are crisper and sweeter than the varieties that are used for market. Tonight, they were all gone. All of them. The tops were chewed off and scattered around and the carrots were all dug out and taken away. That is behind the rabbit-proof fence that I keep around the raised bed. I also thought that the golden cherry tomatoes growing in the front garden bin were suddenly disappearing and tonight when I watered, a rat leaped out of the bin and ran off. They spring all the traps I set and leave them jumbled in a pile. I have seen rats run right by the two electronic traps, baited with chocolate and peanut butter. What is left? Maybe I should get a terrier...

Line sketches at Costco. Jinhao "Shark" pen, extra-fine with Noodler's Black ink.
Exceed 100gsm journal paper.

After seeing a reference to some training exercises for urban sketching from sketcher Marc Taro Holmes I was excited to find he authored a class on Bluprint, to which I have a year subscription. I watched lesson one of "Travel Sketching in Mixed Media", concerning single line sketching. The technique is to practice producing quick sketches by doing a single line contour sketch without lifting the pen. I admit, I couldn't quite do that, but I think it is a good exercise. I did two quick sketches while waiting for my tire rotation at Costco. I added gray and green shading to those sketches, but the two sketches I made tonight while eating with my granddaughter are simpler. Most of the details are omitted, which certainly makes them faster.  I plan to do more.

The conversation with my six year old granddaughter was especially surreal tonight. She said, "I often wonder if I'm living real life." What does that mean?? She says, "How do I know that I'm real? Maybe I'm just imaginary." I said, "What else could you be? A character in a story that some alien is telling his kid?" She laughed, "I just wonder how I know what is real sometimes." I haven't had this type of conversation since I took epistomology in college. And she is only six.

Simple line drawings of Sam and our teapot.
Jinhao fude nib pen, Noodler's Lexington Gray ink. Shading with
Kuretake brush pen and black ink. Artist's Loft journal paper.