Groundhog's Day

Nothing makes me madder than a freeloader, especially when that freeloader is furry with four legs. The girls, the boss and I went to tend to the garden the other day and were met with a horrific sight. The tops of the beans on two rows had been eaten. Something had decided it wanted a midnight snack and had made itself at home. By the looks of it, the thing had brought the whole family along.

Now, I get that the animal is only feeding itself and on an enlightened plane of thought I can appreciate that. Far be it from me to deny an animal its right to eat. BUT I draw the line at my garden. That is for me and mine and I'm not in the mood to share with strange critters looking for an easy meal ticket. So I marched to the shop to elicit the advice of my husband. Farmers are the most resourceful individuals because in their line of work it is a necessity. They also know how to work with nature as well as how to battle nature on its home turf.

Groundhog trap

Farmer Dad decided to set a groundhog trap in the garden in hopes of catching the sneaky thing. He also enlisted the help of  the Great White Hunter, his dairy man (the guy who milks the cows), who is an avid hunter. Well neither solution worked. In the end, nature took care of it. There were actually three groundhogs noshing on my beans. A random car got one of them, Farmer Dad took out another, and his dad took out the last one. It just goes to show you that an easy meal makes you lazy and careless. Just think about Peter Rabbit. It is always best to follow the advice of mother bunny and stay out Mrs. Bright's garden!

Notes From the Boss

I can't let my guard down for a minute. I went to bed one night and thieves invaded the garden. Mom was mad. Now don't let her mild demeanor fool you. As my sissys will tell you, it is not good to get on her bad side and that groundhog was definitely on Mom's bad side. I thought the trap was interesting, but wasn't sure how a groundhog would fall for it. I mean think about it. The little groundhog walks along and sees some apples. Yum, he says. I think I'll eat these apples. Oh, look no I'm supposed to go into a cage. No matter, I love apples! Yeah, not Dad's brightest idea even if it is humane. I preferred the Great White Hunter's approach and offered to help with the stake out. Dad said no. Mom said no. The sissys laughed. In the end Dad and Grandpa went Elmer Fudd on the groundhogs...only they didn't get away like Bugs Bunny. Problem solved.