Animal Lover

Being a vegetarian, most people assume I am an animal lover. Now, while I do not hate animals, I'm not an animal lover, per se. I was never around a lot of animals as a kid. I developed a healthy respect for them from afar. I would say I am more an animal tolerator and respector (with the exception of my three cats, of course, who I love to pieces, even when they meow and meow and meow and. . . but I digress.) So, all that being said, since becoming a gardener, I am developing a marked dislike for animals - squirrels and bunnies especially! Now, I gave up on my lettuce weeks ago. I just wrote that off as a sacrifice. I had in the back of my mind the statement from the man who sold me the Juliet tomato that squirrels like tomatoes, but I hadn't been thinking about it. Well, not only do they like tomatoes, they also like green peppers and hot peppers. They keep picking my tomatoes and habanero, kung pao, and cayenne peppers and - no, not eating them - nibbling on them and then leaving them in the garden or up on the fence or in the yard or wherever they can leave them to taunt me!! I swear they are taunting me with their fluffy little tails in the air. Now, I don't promote violence and I don't like hunting, but I am sorely tempted to get a dog - a big, extremely territorial dog who has a healthy taste for squirrel and bunny.