patience and a gopher

I have to share a little story with you:

The other day, last Thursday to be exact, our little gopher friend decided to show up again.  Now this gopher has been playing us for quite some time.   He comes up in a fury, leaving a large mound of fluffy soil right in plain sight.    We promptly set the traps and he procedes to pack them with dirt, time and time again.   I think this is his way of  sticking his tongue out at us.  Then he leaves for a short while and life goes on.   Then all the sudden he shows up again.   Well, last Thursday morning, we are getting out stuff loaded in the car to go surfing.   I happened to walk by the front window and I see Mel squated down with the changing mat rolled up and he is holding it like a baseball bat.   It takes me a couple minutes to realize what is happening.  Evidently he was heading to the car when he saw Mr. Gopher popping in and out of his newly created hole.  I started watching from the window in the front door.   I can see Mel focused, trying to get a good shot and Mr. Gopher is still pushing soil out the hole, but he has his eye on Mel.   They are dueling......
Now, this changing mat is just a plastic type of woven mat that we stand on to get wetsuits off and on so they don't drag in the dirt.   I don't know what kind of damage, if any, the gopher will experience, but you work with what you have at the moment, right???  Hee hee    Soo, this stand off lasts for at least 5 minutes, finally ending with the gopher popping back down in his hole and not coming back up.........Shoot, guess we have to wait for another opportunity.......

Now, we have to get rid of this gopher because when we get the front yard landscaped, there will be a weed barrier cloth down and then the plants are planted thru holes that we cut in the cloth and the rest of the cloth will be covered with gravel.   If a gopher comes up and makes a mound under the cloth, it will be really hard to fix it.   We are going to bury a metal barrier all around the perimeter of the yard, hoping to keep them from coming thru to our yard.  What else can we try???!!!!

I got a call at work from Mel a couple days later asking me if I could stop at Dick's Sporting Goods on the way home to get some pellets.......he borrowed the pellet gun from the neighbor (who is a cop) and this means war.......   On Sunday morning, true to form, Mr. Gopher is busy at work excavating the yard.   Mel jumps out of bed, man on a mission, grabs the pellet gun, goes out the back door and sneaks around the side of the yard.    I peek out the front door window for a couple minutes and watch their game......  Mel, being soo patient, waiting for just the right moment, and Mr. Gopher, proving he is mightier, doing his thing.

This goes on for about 30 minutes and I hear the pellet gun go off.   I don't want to see when Mr. Gopher loses.....Mel comes in the house, defeated, he missed!!!!!    It is still early, the sun has not hit the hole yet, so maybe Mr. Gopher will be back.

We eat some breakfast and then Mel heads out again, and sits on the front steps, waiting!!!!    I swear, I think it was about an hour later, if not more, and I hear the gun go off again........Mel comes in, defeated again!!!!  He saw the pellet graze right past his nose and hit the dirt!!!!!

Well, Mr. gopher has not shown up now for 2 days, so either he got injured or he is just waiting, contemplating his next move........ the pellet gun is still sitting in the corner of the room, so the game is still on!!!