Corny theft

Who or what would steal a dried-up cob of last year's corn?  I'm dealing with the mysterious dilemma similar the one that frustrated the neighborhood during the three weeks I stole all their mail every day after Bill Brockus delivered it----that when I was five.  I'm sure back in those days, mail thievery was not all that common.  

So, for several neighbors to have no mail for three weeks straight must have kept them scratching their heads until dear ol' Mrs. Moore spotted me coming out of the woods, emptying the boxes and taking the armful of bills, letters, boxes, etc. back into our woods.  Rather than coming over, screaming at me and scaring the beejeebers out of me, she told on me---to the Federal postal authorities.

Well, now so many years later and having escaped the "prison record" my mother said I was sure to have after the Feds made their visit, I'm in a quandary over some daytime theft here at my place.

Unlike the mail pilfering, this situation is about as trivial as the case in our childhood when someone carved on the pencil and we were sent to our room for days with no TV until the guilty party fessed up.

In this case, I'm don't have the luxury of making threats or sending this thief to its room.  I'm just wondering if it flies, races up trees, jumps fences or sneaks through the bushes.

Here's what happened.  Night before last I started preparing some rows out in the north garden for seeds.  I took along a cob of last year's corn, which I've been saving all winter for planting purposes.  I've even checked it out earlier by pulling off a few kernals and planting them in pots inside my greenhouse.  

Most of them germinated, so at least a dozen stalks are growing nicely and waiting to be transplanted to the outdoor garden. I did plant one outside as a test model several days ago, but those several days of cold nights took care of its mortality.  Like my zinnias, it turned brown and went limp.  

After that freeze, it's now looking safe to at least plant some corn seeds, so I took the proven cob, loaded with hardened kernals to the garden.  On that first night, I had time to work up two rows and plant about 18 kernals per row.  I left both the garden tool and the cob on site,  within the fenced-in garden.

Yesterday morning I returned and worked up another couple of rows, figuring I'd come back later in the day and finish the seeding project.  Again, I left the cob and the garden tool.

Last night after completing my day of lawn mowing, I walked to the garden to plant some more corn rows from seed.  

The cob had disappeared.  I looked all over the garden.  No sign of it.  I looked all around the area outside the garden.  Still, no luck.  It's not that the cob is THAT important.  After all, I did save two of them over the winter.  What's puzzling me is what kind of critter would come and steal it---in broad daylight, no less.  

We do have people who bike and walk down the road.  I really doubt that any of them have looked over into my garden, only to covet the golden cob minus a few kernals and make off with it.  

Jim Taylor has been working on fences across the road for the past several days.  I know the Taylors well enough to know, that as longtime farmers, they have more than enough of their own kernals for this year's garden.

So, I don't think the culprit is human.  I also doubt that the squirrels hanging out and chattering in Stan Meserve's big trees could lift something that big and bury it for further use.

I'm thinking crows.  They hang around here all the time,  squawking, singing, cackling and sometimes even talking.  Ever had a crow hang around and think you had some company?  They can do that, ya know.

I'm guessing some astute crow saw that cob lying there in the dirt and thought "Whiskey!"   I'm also guessing that if they were to use it for some of their own home brew, we could hear some really good sounds coming out of the sky as they sit on tree tops or swoop overhead, making noise and looking for things.

It's, indeed, a corny mystery, in more ways than one.  I'm thinking that, like Mrs. Moore, I'd really like to catch my corn-cob thief, so I think I'll plant the rest of my corn and then leave the second cob out there for bait. 

If I'm so lucky to spot this thief in action, maybe there's a Federal agency I can call to take care of the legal aspects associated with stealing gardening seeds.  

In the meantime, if anyone has ideas as to what creature would do such a thing, I'll be happy to hear from you.