grady's fable
kelly | 8 April 2005 - 10:00am
So this whole catching Grady the groundhog thing? Yeah, not going well.
Exactly a week ago today I set the trap for him. The humane trap. The one that's not going to hurt him. (Just wanted to make that clear. Again.) I put apples in the trap because groundhogs eat apples. I know this because my dad and Google say so, and anything that both Dad and Google say must be true. Here it is, in all its yummy-apple trap glory:
I fully expected to catch Grady within a day. I mean, look at those apples! And the trap is strategically located next to his exit hole. And did you see the apples?
But, no Grady. He must know. He must have concluded to himself that the presence of those yummy apples, while tempting, was suspicious. He must have thought, "Hmmm, usually I have to work for my food and then suddenly from the heavens fall these crisp delicious apples right outside my exit hole." Now a god-loving groundhog would simply offer up a prayer of thanks and step happily into the trap. But not Grady. Grady saw those apples and immediately suspected evil. Clearly Grady has read Snow White and The Book of Genesis.
But this morning we caught a rabbit, which we promptly released.
Now Peter Rabbit is no Doubting Thomas. As a bunny, Peter Rabbit tested boundaries so he could decide for himself what was good and bad. But after that incident in Mr. McGregor's garden, he converted. Nowadays, Peter doesn't think too much about stuff. He has been raised on apples and so he is drawn to them without any particular reason other than it is what he knows. But in this case, the apples fooled him. And poor Peter Rabbit found himself trapped in a place he wasn't comfortable, a place he didn't want to be at all. Of course, he blamed himself. The apples wouldn't lead him astray, so it must have been his fault. When we released him, he shot out of that trap in a flash, bounding across the fields, determined to change his ways. Even though he wasn't quite sure where he had gone wrong.
To be honest, I kinda hope Grady never falls for it. I'm growing fond of the agnostic little fellow.
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Remember the cables.
Agnostic animals...didn't I just read this over at mrtl's?
It's entirely possible that when he's not gnawing on my cables, Grady sneaks into the house to read mrtl's blog. I wouldn't put it past him. He's certainly one who takes interest in the thoughts and opinions of others. He's such a smart groundhog. Who chews my cables. I mustn't forget that.
Ok. So I'm desperately searching the internet for ideas, because much like you, we have a groundhog. Based on the picture you posted, our groundhog is a bit larger than yours. I would estimate he weighs between 35 and 40 lbs, as he's roughly the size of the cocker spaniel we used to have and she weighed 35 lbs. He lives free currently, and we don't usually see him at all in the winter. However warm weather is now upon us, and I've already seen him this year. We're not sure where his hole is, but every single blasted year, the furry little f*cker eats every single one of my tomatos... and we're talking four plants worth. Last year, he also ate my yellow bottleneck squash plants. Not just the squash, but the blooms, the leaves, the whole thing, leaving nothing but stubby little pieces of stems where beautiful plants once were. My neighbors and I can't seem to get rid of him, and we're tired of seeing our hard work pay off in fat groundhog instead of fat pantries. My neighbor tried putting out moth balls, but that didn't work. I tried hot pepper flakes sprinkled around the plants, but that did not work either. I've thought of some sort of trap, I've even (ok this is shameful) thought about putting out mice traps to smack his hand if he went for my plants. BUT... I don't want to hurt him, and I don't want other animals to possibly be killed or injured, so I didn't do it. But if you find a solution or idea, please email me! My email is heart102271@yahoo.com.mx thanks!!!