"somebody" <Thank you. In the future, I will try and pick them before the
evil
beady-eyed ones do. (Though I have tried that in previous years, and
they still get them before me. It's like they know when I am about to
pick one.) That sounds better than the alternative: sitting on the
deck all night with a shotgun, a bottle of Jack, Hank Williams Sr on
the radio, and night vision goggles.

That sounds like fun but I think you'll be surprised at who the bandit is.
We have lotsa squirrels here but they pretty much go to bed at dusk; never
ever saw one out after dark. Wild hares, on the other hand, munch any time
they take a notion. Polly