A Bold Garden Thief

[nightdog_barks]

So now we know who's been chowing down on our tomatoes on the vine. Mister Nightdog and I were having brisket tonight and watching The Right Stuff on one of the movie channels when we realized there was a rat in the tomato pot closest to the window. And as we watched the rat instead of the movie, he industriously severed a stem from the plant and carried it off.

"There was a tomato on that," Mister Nightdog said.

"Well, let him have it," I said.

I don't know if it was a Norway rat or a roof rat, but it was a good size and very furry. Bold little bastard.

Speaking of the film, parts of it are still very good, but I don't think the beginning has held up very well. Basically it is Sam Shepard as Chuck Yeager saying "I AM A MAN DOING MANLY THINGS," with Barbara Hershey as his wife-to-be on a horse doing a "I AM RUNNING AWAY FROM YOU ON A HORSE PLZ CHASE ME." So, yeah.

ALSO. I am reading Samantha Hunt's novel Mr. Splitfoot, and wow, so far it is very good.

Comments

[taiga13]

Yikes!!! I've only seen a rat once, at a dump in Ontario.
Stole a tomato, hmm? Maybe it was making ratatouille.

[nightdog_barks]

We get rats here, it seems, every few years. When we lived in Tokyo, we used to see them in the subway tunnels and very occasionally on the streets. In fact, once I was walking down a sidewalk and a rat came out from an alleyway, approached me (I had stopped walking when I saw it), and sniffed at my shoes. He was a friendly little guy.

Mmm, ratatouille! :D

[felis]

I've never seen The Right Stuff, I only know that the House episode of the same name (co-written by Doris Egan no less) was a deliberate reference. Maybe I should watch it at some point.

And that's a really amusing sketch scene with the thieving rat. :-D

[nightdog_barks]

The film was a huge hit when it came out in 1983 and it's still rated a 7.9 by IMDB, but I'm not sure it's held up all that well over the years. I think the romance part with Sam Shepard and Barbara Hershey is really weak and could have been left out of the movie without harm. The rest of the film is pretty good. I have the book (by Tom Wolfe) -- I need to re-read it to refresh my memory.

I haven't seen the rat again! I do rather hope he stays away. :D