The tomato thief

Tomatoes are in season and so far we have picked 85 pounds from 20 plants, and there are many more to be picked. We have eaten so many bacon,lettuce and tomato sandwiches. I am freezing them...what's left...I take a big pot and fill about 2/3 with water and bring to a boil. I then put about 6 tomatoes in for about 5 minutes; remove from water and put on a towel to cool. The skin slips right off and I chop into little pieces. I then bring the chopped tomatoes to a boil and cook for about 5 minutes. I then fill the sink about 1/2 full with cold water and ice. When they are cool I fill quart bags about 3/4 and put in the freezer. I think this method is much easier than canning and they are so good in spaghetti sauce, lasagna, chile, and homemade soup. My goal is to have 25 quarts for the freezer.

After we pick tomatoes, we put them in the garage on a table to ripen. After a few days we noticed some small bites had been taken from several. We thought nothing about it..we live in the country and it's a mouse. This goes on a few days and then there are larger bites. I then put the outdoor camera in the garage and the next day I had a opossum on the picture. Last night we put the trap in the garage....does not hurt the animal in any...I love animals too much to hurt them. I put in 1/2 cup of cat food. I thought...whatever it is has been eating a lot of tomatoes..it's time for some real food. During the night he found the food and was trapped inside the cage. The opossum was a baby...not much bigger than our 3 pound ferret. He hissed but they are harmless. When threatened they play dead. Looks like he still has his baby teeth. I took a few pictures and let him go; he ran off in the bushes.  Don't you think he is so cute?