Is It Dead?

Well, this is how I spent my Memorial Day.  Watching my weenies for twitching, foaming at the mouth, vomiting and seizures.  Yes, quite the cautionary tale.  My sweetest Emmy snored and dreamt a little.  Ornery Sister, was at the other end of the couch and since she has medical issues and both of my little girls are elderly, I watched them like a hawk.

I have had problems with gophers, moles and sewer rats.  They have tunneled all over and in my flower beds.  After trying traps, I bought some poison.  I have never used it before, but they were tunneling everywhere. So, I measured some and poured it down the hole.  I stuffed steel wool over it and cut out some heavy hardware cloth (metal) and put it on top then hammered some spikes in it to keep it down.  I covered it with dirt and flower seeds.  That was two weeks ago.

This morning, I saw the girls little butts sticking out of a hibiscus shrub and knew what they were up to.  As I walked over I passed by the poisoned place and glanced at it. They had not only torn the hardware cloth away, but had also pulled out the steel wool.  I about had a heart attack.  I replaced all and put rocks over it, then hurried in the house and called my vet.  She gave me the symptoms to look for and said they could take hours to appear.  She is 2 hours away and I'm sure not too happy to hear from me on a rare day off. She didn't think after two weeks and rain that they'd be in danger, but told me the steps an animal hospital would take.

So, still no symptoms and perhaps we dodged a catastrophe today.  I wish I had a large margarita, but I don't.  Tonight, after a frozen tv dinner, I'll be watching the third season of Bloodline and House of Cards.  They are both really good.  

Note to self - never use poison again.  I've seen new tunnels and the rat eating at the bird feeder so it isn't dead.  Aye yay yay!

Progress

Oh, my aching back.  After siphoning this putrid swill down my throat, you'll remember, I drained the goldfish pond at the city house.

To this.  I was shocked how much the gopher dug from the ground and deposited in my pond.

Ta daa.  I filled up three blue storage containers with the slimy, stinky muck and mud.  I thought I was going to have a heart attack.  Can't wait to get it cleaned out and another siphon then the filter and fish.  Yay!  I wasn't shouting yay while doing all the work though.

Sometimes You're The Windshield

Sometimes you're the bug.

Be still my beating heart.  It's spring!  My favorite time of year.  I've been holding back at the nurseries.  Only planting perennials and bulbs and nothing that will freeze.  

I've shown you the photo of the goldfish pond where gophers dumped their tunnel detritus.  Their tunnels are all under the rocks so I can't lay traps properly.  I can't even move some of the rocks.  Now, big rats have taken over the tunnels.  I caught one, but cookies, peanut butter, gummy bears and cheese don't tempt them. And yes, those rat traps hurt. The bird feeders have all been moved to the edge of the lake.

So, I went to the hardware store and bought clear tubing, so I could see when the water was coming near my guzzle. Who knew siphoning came so fast?  And, you have to suck hard. Yes, you guessed it.  The bacterial, amoebic fecal filled filthy swill went down my throat several times.  I wish I had a picture of me holding the tubing down in the water and over the 8 foot drop trying to drain it.  I got air in it several times and I had to start all over.

To my horror, those little menaces dumped a load of dirt that nearly fills half the goldfish pond.  It would fill a wheelbarrow, which I don't have at the city house.  Aye yay yay.  And those cute little rats watched me the whole time.  This time, I'm the bug.

Greasy Grimy Gopher Guts

I think I'm going to have to get a frog gig to catch a gopher.  Notice the pile of dirt at the bottom of picture.  It has slung dirt that now fills about a third of my goldfish pond.  

Some of these rocks where it resides are too heavy to move.  I can't get the little devil out.  He is happy to keep digging.  I've tried the sonic beeper to run him off.  Didn't work.  I bought some traps - can't figure out how to use them.  The old trap I used at the farm worked wonderful.  Caught them every time.  I'd resort to poison, but I'm afraid the weenies would get into it. As per the advice from an old-timer, I tried a stick of Juicy Fruit gum, both chewed and unchewed - didn't work.

But, I am desperate.  This little sucker has burrowed down eight feet to the lower yard and has a giant hill built around my Nandina bush that has so many stalks from the ground up, I can't get anywhere close to it.  And, this bush is many years old and I don't want to lose it.

Today, as a last resort, I am going to use one of those gasser things that you light and stick in the hole.  Never tried one, so don't know how that is going to work.  I just hope he comes out of that hole choking and I am going to choke him some more.  They are cute so I feel kind of bad, but I am going to have to drain this pond and shovel out all the dirt, so he's not that cute.  

  Don't know what else to do.