Pirate cat to blame for failing crops?

If you’ve seen my Facebook page lately, you’ve probably noticed my growing obsession with, well, growing things, mostly vegetables.


Last year, my husband and I (99 percent David) put out two barrels, one with zucchini and cucumbers and one with tomatoes. We had a ton of zucchini, but the other plants didn’t do very well. This summer we put out Topsy Turvy tomatoes, a barrel of green peppers and a barrel of zucchini. Only the peppers have survived. Over the weekend, we pulled out the zucchini and replaced them with begonias. Argh.

I blame the boat cat. That’s right. The neighbors behind our house have had a landlocked boat on the border of our yard for years. It’s a landmark right beside our gravel driveway.

The other day I was weeding the edges of the driveway (as my husband likes me to do). I pulled a Wal-Mart bag full of clippings and went to take a rest.

As David and I stood there, a mangy gray cat came down from the boat and sauntered over to smell my grass clippings. The cat walked down the driveway to our two barrels of produce. With us watching, it got up into the zucchini barrel and conducted some business. It then moseyed over to the pepper barrel and looked into it and walked away. The brazen feline marched back down the driveway toward us and went under our startlingly white Dodge Dakota, my husband’s pride and joy. David and the cat had a standoff, and eventually the cat lost. It ran away to terrorize another house.

My theory is that this pirate cat might be the zucchini killer. I’m going to keep an eye out for this cat. I think it might generate some interesting stories. (Avast, me hearties!)