Pests.
I was preparing my penitentiary for the planting of the lupini (Sarah's lupini), and noticed that the large arugola plant left from last year, healthy on Monday, was wilted. It had been chewed off of its roots. Then I noticed some familiar mounds. Mole mounds or gopher mounds, but not identical to those I used to "treat" on Singletree Lane. There is no visible entry point until I scrape off the dirt and expose it. Just south of my beloved rhubarb there was a hole (now partially filled with mole and gopher pellets:

I got a small taste of what the African farmer must feel after a herd of elephants crumple his crops. Now we wait. And inspect daily.
So, I posted the above, had a beer, and returned to the mole hole. That took all of 30 minutes. Here is what I found:

The critter had already had its lunch, and started to reconstitute the mound of dirt when, I am imagining, it was overtaken by a powerful tummy ache... Bye bye moley!