green monsters

 I know I will be having nightmares tonight

First off, yes this is an early entry!  It is not your imagination.

Emily, John and I are goingto see "Kinky Boots" in Aurora tonight, and I have a feeling I will be tired when I get home.

And I do apologize for yesterday's ramblings......sometimes I get off on a wrong ramp.

Why will I have nightmares tonight?

No, not because of the show.....Kinky is upbeat and humerous.

But because of tomatoes.

But tomatoes are green, or red, you say.  They are not monsters, you say.  They are not the Green Wall in Fenway Park, you say.

Yes to everything you say.

But look at this:

This is the green monster I will dream about.

Tomato worms.

Bug, ugly, hungry, worms who will strip my tomato plants of leaves and even eat the tomatoes.  But hey don't eat the whole fruit, (not wanting to start an argument over vegetable/fruit today, so relax) just enough to make it inedible.

I read somewhere, or maybe imagined it, that the spike on the end of these critters can inflice a painful sting.  So I am extra careful in how I remove them.

Look at the leaves!  Stripped!!  The worms blend in so well with the plant that I actually have to hunt for them.

I pulled off 7 today...but I know there are more out there.

What do I do with them?

They can't swim, and their gripping legs don't allow them to get out a plastic bucket.  After they die, I will dump the pail in the garden, maybe this will be a warning to other tomato hornworms that Dickow doesn't tolerate their nonsense.

I know it seems cruel, but I just can't squish them on the sidewalk because that is too messy.  

Tonight I hope I dream of shoes, not worms.  And I hope I don't wake up screaming that they are coming after me!!

Peace and Love