Remember this?

Around this time last year a good tomato wasn’t a hard thing to find. But not this year.

Everybody’s complaining about split tomatoes, green tomatoes or no tomatoes.

Now, I know a thing or two about squirrels and I know those nasty things climb all over the vines and pick the ones they want, take a bite out of one or two, then throw them on the ground (kind of like what monkeys do, I think).

But I don’t think the drought of good tomatoes has anything to do with those nasty squirrels. See, one of Our neighbors built this neat tomato cage with a top to keep the squirrels out. There must be at least 50 tomato plants in there. I’m not kidding. They’re on vacation so We walk over there and I give the perimeter of the cage a good security sweep and I haven’t seen any squirrels.

Do you know there’s only one red tomato over there? And Ours are all straggly with only a few green ones hanging on for dear life.

The tomatoes may be missing in action this year where We live, but you can count on one thing: I’m going to do my best to protect those that are potential salad fodder for Our house.

Squirrels beware.

What You Learned Today:

• I like my little almost daily tomato patrol walks. It’s nice to walk somewhere different.
• Do you think those nice people would mind if I walked in their yard when they get back from vacation? (They don’t have a dog, so a visit from a Scottie might be nice for them. Ya think?)
• If you need a patrol dog to protect things that grow in your garden, you can either call me and I’ll come over OR you can put the word out for a rent-a-Scottie. One will tawdle right over to take care of things.