The Squirrel Who Loves Tomatoes

The squirrel that shares in our garden harvest was filling himself, much the same as a bear about to go into hibernation, with cherry tomatoes.  Truly, as I watched him watch me, he handpicked nearly a dozen and enjoyed quite the feast.  However, I much prefer him eating those rather than taking a few bites out of a luscious ripe tomato, leaving 7/8ths of it to rot away.

Snowfall in the mountains doesn't come as a surprise when the calendar changes from September to October.  Even down in the foothills we are ready for the light dusting.
Personally I would like a full six months of summer, when all vegetation is growing as if in a race to be the tallest, fullest and most colorful of its garden mates.  All week the local news has been hyping the expected snowfall today.  Okay...we've had the first snowfall, now let's get back to a couple more weeks of summer days.

Since the overnight temperatures will now be too cold to sustain any more seasonal growing, I picked all my green tomatoes yesterday and grouped them according to their variety to ripen in the house.  I also gathered a large portion of the cherry tomatoes, but left enough for several more squirrel sized meals.