Monday, August 06, 2007

Squirrels 3, Bella 0

A spot of red caught my eye when I looked out the kitchen window yesterday. I went outside to investigate, and what did I find lying on the ground but a nearly ripe, HALF-EATEN, Hungarian Heart tomato! One that I'd been waiting patiently to turn all red, along with about 20 others on five bushy plants in my backyard. Upon closer examination, the tomato bore distinct signs of having been gnawed by squirrels.

ARGH! I tossed it on the compost heap, taking care not to touch any of the chewed spots in case of rabies and/or plague germs.

Then I checked on the two (2!) peaches that my new peach tree had managed to produce. They'd been getting increasingly red and I'd been copping a feel every few days to determine whether they were ready to be picked. They were rock-hard at last squeeze, but I thought maybe they'd been ripened by all the hot and sunny weather.

No peaches. Not on the tree, not on the ground. Completely gone. GAAAAH!!!

What hubris of me to write, in A Mighty Hungarian Heart:
The few neighboring squirrels stopped coming by thanks to her [Jenny dog] and the ever-vigilant Max [cat], who spends most of his time outside...
Max has been put on notice.

3 comments:

Deb said...

Yanno (tm -- miss you, Miss Snark), your predators might have had two feet, not four.

Now, I am no apologist for squirrels. Nothing that cute should be trusted.

But my dad, some years ago, had a peach tree that did really well one year. The weather was perfect, it seemed, and the fruit swelled and grew thick on the tree. He monitored it day by day, and one morning he finally mentioned that tomorrow was harvest time!

You guessed it. In the morning, the tree had been stripped. Not one peach left.

Apparently someone else was watching it at the same time.

People, phooey. Give me squirrels anytime.

Bella Stander said...

Sorry for your loss. Ours was definitely due to squirrels. The tree is in our completely enclosed backyard, right by a 6' board fence-- aka Squirrel Highway. I saw one skulking across it this morning, so I let Jenny out the back door & the two of us gave him hell. He lit out for the garage roof. It was highly gratifying. I'm watching my tomatoes (also near the fence)like a hawk.

Trenting said...

Aww that really stinks.. makes you want to get out a sling-shot and just wait for the pesky things..