Wednesday, August 06, 2008

That Wascal Wabbit

For the past few years I have had a family of rabbits living in my yard. I don't know if they are the same rabbits, the kids of the parents of the rabbits, or completely different rabbits altogether but often when I come home and walk through my backyard to my house a few rabbits will watch me and if I get too close hop away.

My sister is allergic to cats so she has a couple of bunnies for pets. My dad and my friend M- both have told me that rabbits continue to eat their hostas but I haven't had that same problem. Thus I have learned to come to enjoy the rabbits in my yard. The only nuisance is that one of them likes to sit underneath the window that Thompson likes to look out of. To me it's almost a taunt- the rabbit surely knows Thompson is there and unable to jump through the screen to catch him.

Well the welcome might be over. The tomatoes in my garden have just started getting ripe and I have been paying particular attention to three that were nice sized and slowly turning red. I thought about picking one of the three as I went by my garden on my way to work but decided to leave it be and pick it when I got home. One of my summer loves is that I love fresh tomatoes out of the garden. While all the other plants in my yard have suffered from the lack of moisture in these parts, I have diligently kept my tomato plants watered.

When I got home from work and went to enjoy my first tomato of the season, I noticed it was half eaten. I figured I hadn't noticed some insects had been eating my tomatoes. I picked the next ripest tomato and brought it into the house figuring I could let it finish ripening inside. When I looked closer at this tomato I noticed some bite marks. This suggested some animal had decided to sample my summer's worth of hard work. Suspect number one, two, three, and four? Mr. Bunny and his family.

I wouldn't think of doing violence to an animal but the thought did occur to me that maybe I should loosen the screen from Thompson's window and let nature take its course. I might be being a bit unfair since I'm not even sure it was the rabbits that ate some of my tomato. Is there such a thing as a tomato eatin rabbit?

6 comments:

  1. I think rabbits would eat tomatoes. It's a shame that they ate the one that you had all picked out for yourself.

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  2. Perhaps, but there are other potential culprits. The last time I lost tomatoes it was to box turtles. No, a box turtle. A large, female, egg-laying box turtle. That was a sight, I'll tell you. She also preferred to take a divet out of all the available fruit, rather than finish off a piece at a time, neatly.

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  3. Another potential culprit could be a squirrel. A few years ago I caught one eating one of my tomatoes.

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  4. I love bunny rabbits. I wish my Mum would let me have one as a pet.

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  5. You have tomatoes, you need fencing. Hohohohoho - that simple!
    My staff enjoys their tomatoes - but they have them fenced in with an ocotillo fence or they would not have a leaf in their garden!
    Mrs.OZ

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  6. We think there are many critters that would like tomatoes. Thompson probably enjoys watching the rabbit much more than eating him!

    ~ The Bunch

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