Radicchio and squirrels

It was a lovely day today, and as I returned home from work, I made the rounds, checking on everything (that I've got behind on).

I've been enjoying radicchio becoming red and colorful. I sowed seeds (of heading radicchio) sometime in mid-summer, and transplanted some of the seedlings to the main vegetable garden in early fall. They're coloring up beautifully, and I've just been thinking about what I should 'do' with them. High-heat roasting. Grilling? Probably not, since it involves charcoal lighting in our grill.

But much to my amazement (I guess I shouldn't be surprised based on the radicchio-loving herbivorous tendencies that I've previously observed), there were leaves gone from one of the clumps that I've been observing. Bah, humbug.

I was looking forward to enjoying their winter color for some time, until (much) colder weather (in the future) had mellowed bitterness in the leaves.