Comments on: I have declared War

By: Adventures in GoogleLand | Cosmic Variance

Adventures in GoogleLand | Cosmic Variance — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 22:00:49 +0000

[...] The meeting ended on Sunday afternoon and, after the closeout session I went for a couple of beers with some people I’d met there, before heading up to JoAnne’s place, where she had invited me to dinner. We had a lovely time – it’s always great to see JoAnne – and enjoyed fine food and wine, and I was even lucky enough to see the famous tomato plants just a few days before their problems developed. [...]

By: Critter Proof | Cosmic Variance

Critter Proof | Cosmic Variance — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 03:55:34 +0000

[...] CV readers may recall the trauma suffered a few weeks ago due to a roof rat invading my tomato crop. Well, the roof rat (and his friends) were easily dealt with (naturally, they are now all dead rats). But the squirrels turned out to be a rather serious problem. One came and quickly told all his/her friends. Seems they considered my tomatoes to be quite tasty. Not any more….they can find another restaurant! [...]

By: Where does the time go? | Cosmic Variance

Where does the time go? | Cosmic Variance — Fri, 08 Sep 2006 06:55:20 +0000

[...] Otherwise I have been kept busy chasing squirrels away from my tomatoes! For those who have been following – the rats are dead rats and now there’s a squirrel issue. [...]

By: Amitabha

Amitabha — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 11:09:35 +0000

Tomatoes near an `atom-smasher’. Does anyone remember Attack of the Killer Tomatoes?

By: Cynthia

Cynthia — Sun, 20 Aug 2006 14:46:12 +0000

Joanne: By picking your tomatoes while they’re still green, you might avoid this battle for the red ones, so to speak.;) After all, the rats don’t seem to take an interest in green tomatoes. Simply slice them, roll them in seasoned cornmeal and fry them in a hot iron skillet. Surprisingly, a fried green tomato sandwich including a layer of goat cheese and a drizzle of tarragon vinaigrette is quite tasty.

By: Quasar9

Quasar9 — Sun, 20 Aug 2006 10:07:40 +0000

Hi erc, a cat would be both the Natural solution and the ‘organic’ one too. Gosh one could possibly say it is even the Physical Solution – to rats anyway!
PS – Don’t overfeed the cat on tuna chunks or salmon. A cat with more appetite is a leaner keener meaner killing machine. Natural born killer, stalker, hunter, predator
**

By: erc

erc — Sun, 20 Aug 2006 08:11:31 +0000

Get a cat! Natural born rat-catchers, and very nice to have sitting on your lap whilst you work.

By: Sam Gralla

Sam Gralla — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 15:34:10 +0000

I am always inspired by passion for food. Those tomatos will be extra-good when you enjoy them rat-free.

By: Q

Sat, 19 Aug 2006 10:52:24 +0000

You are not seriously telling me you sat there till gone three in the morning with a baseball bat. That is determination. Nevermind the patience of a saint, I forgot you have the patience of someone working on colliders …
Worth the wait, just to see the final (collision) result. huh!

Plus, saves having to call out the rat control people, unless of course he left a widow and orphans in your loft. But I wouldn’t lose any sleep over it if I were you. lol!
**

By: JoAnne

JoAnne — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 08:34:55 +0000

Further Update: It’s a dead rat.

By: Quasar9

Quasar9 — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 08:06:00 +0000

You’ve got an oak tree, and bucks come to visit, my oh my!
Glad to hear you discovered who the pesky little munchkin is. So will the rat control people be offering a permanent solution to the squatter problem.
Funny how Nature nurtures diversity, and we ‘humans’ the observer determine what is vermin and what is cute. To some bunnies & squirrels are cute, to others clearly vermin. And you do know rats make very good intelligent and clean pets, it is sewer rats carry the plague.

PS – Six foot tomatoe plants are average, but yes six foot seems dwarfish for California or the US where everything is meant to grow larger than life. lol!
PPS – Don’t you think it is a little ironic that the most sophisticated peace of land on earth should suffer from water shortages. I presume you mean rain water, after all the peninsula does jutt out into that little pond they call the Pacific, and desalination plants, solar panels and wind turbines … ehr, well we’ll leave that for another day, when I come and visit.
**

By: JoAnne

JoAnne — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 05:27:16 +0000

Hi All, I have included an update to this post which reveals the latest news and the nature of this ferocious beast.

Anal-Retentive Orthographer: I corrected the spelling of varmint. I hope you can sleep at night now.

Quasar9: For now, you’d better bring your own tomatoes. I have NO idea how I have roof rats (except I live in the wild) and I haven’t heard a peep. And yes, I do have deer, many in fact, in my yard. My street is like a penisula jutting into a large nature preserve and there are many wild creatures. Last summer this huge buck used to spend his days sitting under my oak tree in back. It was magnificent to watch.

astromcnaught: Sorry for the light pollution, but my lights are on again tonight. This is a state of war!

Strange: Well, only some of my plants are 6 feet. Actually I was worried they were dwarfed for some reason – the seed packets seem to expect plants up to 9 feet!

Hack: thanks for making me laugh! It all makes sense now….

By: Quasar9

Quasar9 — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 00:35:39 +0000

Nice touch leaving the remains for the squirrels, I like a lady who likes to share with her little furry neighbours, even if they turn out to be roof rats. lol!.
What are you doing with roof rats in the first place though – surely you would have noticed or heard them before now.
What was all that talk about deer, you got deer round your back yard?
Anyway I’m guessing the pics below could be used for your symmetry caption too. The same tomato green unripe inedible, and yet suddenly in spacetime (in a matter of hours) ripen become red and change into something ready to eat – if the critters don’t munch at them first. Funny how they know which ones are juciest and taste nice too – colours???
**

By: TJ

TJ — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 00:33:58 +0000

Cover the tomatoes with Dave’s Gourmet Insanity Sauce or
other very hot pepper sauce. It won’t stop birds, but most
mammals (except some humans) really dislike the stuff.

By: Arun

Arun — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 23:57:25 +0000

Maybe it is a sleepwalking Joanne who took a bite of the tomato?

By: Louise

Louise — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 18:29:28 +0000

Since the beast went for your biggest tomato and it was 30-40 feet from the gorund ,this can only be the dreaded Were-Rabbit.

By: hack

hack — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 18:23:22 +0000

It wasn’t a varmit, it was a starving graduate student!

Graduate student infestations are very difficult to deal with. The only solution is to give them PhDs and get them postocs somewhere far away.

By: Louise

Louise — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 18:21:06 +0000

Get ANTI PESTO, humane pest control! Joanne’s picture can take Lady Tottington’s space as the lovely redhead. The scientific method works!

By: graviton383

graviton383 — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 17:37:01 +0000

Actually roof rats ARE rats & not squirrels:

http://www.pestproducts.com/roof_rats.htm

By: theophylact

theophylact — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 17:18:15 +0000

Uhhh… “roof rats” are squirrels…