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Tuesday, June 16, 2009

Teaser Tuesday: A Blessing of Toads

This week I'm back to garden-related non-fiction, finally in the mood to read Sharon Lovejoy's A Blessing of Toads, which Nan very kindly sent to me some time ago. It's very pleasant and full of good ideas, often funny and another one of those gardening books that relaxes me as a gardener, as opposed to making me worry about how much I suck.

Teaser Tuesdays are hosted by Should Be Reading. It works as follows:
  • Grab your current read.
  • Open to a random page.
  • Share two teaser sentences from somewhere on that page.
  • Be careful not to include spoilers!
  • Include the title and author.

From A Blessing of Toads by Sharon Lovejoy, p209:

"These pudgy omnivores, who are often referred to as Mother Nature's cleaning crew, are voracious feeders who eat not only household garbage, fallen fruits, and a legion of diverse garden pests, but also roadkill and any carrion they find. Depending on the bounty of the season, their nightly foraging may include crawfish, grasshoppers, potato bugs, hornworms, gypsy moths, grubs, armyworms, Japanese beetles, wasps, and an assortment of small vertebrates such as mice, voles, shrews, gophers (hurrah!), and young rats."

And for even more fun, see if you can guess which [North American] creature Lovejoy is talking about! I'll make sure to post the answer in the comments Thursday.

UPDATE: If you want to know the name of the creature described in this passage, have a peek at the comments. :)

6 comments:

Hilarie said...

I am guess a raccoon? We have so many that live close to our home, and they are always trying to find ways to sneak into our garbage and leaving a mess. Great teaser, and I like the quiz idea!

Nise' said...

Opossum?

Phyl said...

Oh yes, it wouldn't surprise me if it's a raccoon. Rather undisciminating in their tastes, huh?

Meanwhile, Kiirsten, I'm sure you won't be surprised at where I'm getting my own teaser from this week, hee!

Anonymous said...

I would have guessed a racoon, but now am considering the skunk.
Love that quote!
Amazing description!
Joanne

Unknown said...

Oooh. All good guesses! I'll report back tomorrow, but thank you all for visiting and commenting. :)

Unknown said...

And the animal is.... a skunk! Joanne, you had it. Raccoon and oppossum are also great guesses -- I could see both of them them eating all those things too.

I had *no* idea that skunks were such predators, but it makes a lot of sense. Most of what is listed there doesn't move very fast compared to the larger skunk, particularly those that are diurnal and sleeping at night. Skunks are the ultimate opportunists. And they're one of my favourite critters ever. I don't even mind the smell, as long as it's not directed somewhere too close to me....