And The Battle Begins!

           I have a groundhog!  Not by choice and I need to get rid of him. 

I planted thirty tomato plants this spring and the varmint proceeded to go down the rows eating the tops.  I set out a live trap only to catch an, EWWWW, opossum, which was probably laughed at by the wicked beast as he headed to my garden to devour my squash plants. 

 I then erected a scarecrow, sporting a plaid shirt and proudly displaying a gourd head which I painted a face on and added some funky yarn hair to.  My daughter named her Ugly Betty, then soon changed it to Pretty Pathetic, and if she doesn’t soon do her job, she will be renamed to Utterly Useless.  I have hung tin pie plates from her arms and she is beginning to look like a vagrant. 

This marauding thief lives under the shed which backs up to my garden.  As they say in real estate…Location, Location, Location.  As I pass the shed in the utility vehicle I always blow the horn just to tic him off.  I also throw rocks at the side of the shed or hit it with the shovel.  I get the feeling he finds me as amusing as that trapped opossum.  Someone told me to fill glass gallon jugs with water and place them around the garden.  The rascal sees his reflection and, apparently thinking it's another animal, runs away.  If only it were that simple.  I've been told to use mothballs or have the men of the house 'mark their territory' around the hole.  I just continue to wage my personal battle against this critter and attempt to make his life miserable.  But I have not actually seen him for about a week and a half.  Could I be so lucky that he got caught up in the Rapture or maybe the fox that killed my neighbor's chickens needed something more substantial.  Either way works for me.