Warning if you are squeamish, mildly compassionate, under five or a vegan do not read this. The contents of this blog could possibly offend you. I even offend myself.
There is a happy ending though so please don't flame me and say how horrid I am.
Gophers. Pest. Varmints. Rodents. And.... mildly cute. Okay Okay, I think gophers are cute. I admit it. So it is with great disappointment in myself (a former devout animal activist and vegan ) that I turned my back on the hamster like creature, covered my daughters' eyes and let my husband whack one today as we walked the property (wearing my six month old in a Baby Bjorn and my two sons watching) Do you really want to know? Probably not..... With a shovel OKAY!!! (tears) a shovel for crying out loud!! I am ashamed. But if you must know the shame goes much deeper. I am actually secretly happy when he gets one. I have a sick tally running in my head. Gophers:9 thousand holes. Brains: 5 gophers. It is the real life version of Whack a Mole. Plus on the humorous side, when was the last time you saw a man wearing a baby in a Bjorn whacking gophers? Ummmmm funny. I don't care who you are.
Look what one gopher did to our house! Crimminey Justmas.
After irrigation, this is what one of those guys did. Really this is dangerous, if one of our kids crawled in this little cave it could collapse. Must I remind you of the Great Gopher Sink Hole of 1985, when dad slipped neck up in a gopher hole after irrigation? Or the Great Gopher Flood of 86" when a gopher flooded the basement of this same house? Something needs to be done.
Okay so I feel bad. I do. They are just trying to live ya know. So I made my husband swear we would do the catch and release next time. Which will require me to construct some king of gopher box and to use the shovel with more grace and gentleness and capture them somehow. Of course I will take pictures. (I used to capture wild birds for rescue, um how hard could this be after handling hawks and owls?) Please. I got this.
Here is another darling we found today living in the barn walls. I actually like snakes, especially this one because it eats gophers.
 | |||||||
| Abby and Mason handling the little gopher snake |
Here are some more serene photos. Our little orchard is coming along nicely.
 |
| My grandpa Jo's favorite cart. RIP |
 | |
| Not uncommon for a desert sunset |
LOL about the gophers~ and I love the picture of the kids looking at said gopher, there faces are just priceless! Perhaps I should send Z out to you..if you remember she has a great hit with rocks and little creatures. Doesn't bother her a bit too.
ReplyDeleteThe sunset is beautiful and I love how you edited your photos for a tutorial..gotta try that one sometime.
Man I miss AZ 's sunsets!
Wow those are some gopher holes! We planted fruit trees a few years ago and gophers destroyed them. But they are cute I guess.
ReplyDeleteLisa, seriously? I really hope that doesn't happen, did they get all of them? the hole itself in the picture was was normal, but with a few irrigations it washed it out.
ReplyDeleteGlad I did not have to witness that. feel the same as you...double minded about the killing.
ReplyDeleteVery funny mental pic, though! Gary, the baby carrying gopher killer..lol
I know right Suzanne! it is so not like me or gary to want to kill stuff, but since we will be processing our own meat I suppose we have to get used to it. booo. but my kids come first
ReplyDeleteI am in love with your grandpa Jo's favorite cart! Gorgeous pic. Also I would totally whack me some gophers if they were digging those monstrous holes around my home, holy wow!
ReplyDelete