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July 9, 2002
Rats In Our Garden
I rarely get mad, upset occasionally, but I was red-eyed mad this afternoon. Arriving home earlier than usual this afternoon, I noticed a pickup truck parked in the alley behind our house. Then I saw a woman walking around our garden. Funny thing: when I opened our back door to ask her what she was doing she ran to the truck with several of our tomatoes cradled in her shirt and she and her accomplice sped away, as I ran inside to grab a camera or binoculars (to get their tag number).
We'd never begrudge anyone anything. We gladly share our vegetables, herbs, and flowers, swapping cuttings with friends, families, the occasional squirrel, bird and acquaintances. I would have even let the woman take the tomatoes as a gift, but having them taken unasked leaves us feeling violated. We live in a quiet neighborhood filled with octagenarians and retired people; this is the last development we'd expect. We'll get over the disappointment, it's hard to be downtrodden when we're harvesting pole beans, tomatoes, cucumbers, lettuce, arugula, tomatoes, radishes, carrots and all the herbs to make them taste even better.
