Walking It Back

 

Wayne and I recently celebrated our 40th BFUHS class reunion. It was during the final preparations for  the Alumni Parade, that one of my classmates offered up  his Division 1 State Football Championship jacket for me to wear. Another classmate chimed in that it wasn't going to fit me, to which a third quickly informed them that they had "better walk that back". It was all in great fun as back in the day, my brother Charles' teammates used to rib us both that the wrong sibling was on the team as I had a few good inches on my brother. Though Charles and I were born in the same year, Charles was a year behind me in school. My little brother never misses an opportunity to celebrate with the Class of 82 and his State Championship buddies. As I often say to my friends when speaking about BF boys, "You can take the boy out of  BF; but you can't take BF out of the boy!" I suspect that's pretty much true about a lot of things.

For reasons that will hopefully become apparent, if you haven't yet read The $64 Tomato by William Alexander, then I'm recommending that you move it straight to the top of you summer reading list! 

The other day while I was sitting in my recliner drinking a morning cup of coffee, my attention was drawn to a rather large brown creature nosing up to the living room window. The critter being a mere two feet from where I sat, I slowly turned my eyes fully towards her. Living with two dogs, one of which being a mix of coonhounds, I learned long ago not to make any sudden movements or sounds lest (as my neighbors are well aware) the Krakens be released! Once our eyes fully met, the woodchuck realized her error, leapt from the planter and vanished into the Bee Balm.

Typically guests to my planters include, chipmunks, birds, frogs and toads...but mostly chipmunks.

It is with some foolish pride that I relay that a Biologist friend of mine informed me this spring, that we had done about all that we could do by way of transforming our one acre of land into a wildlife friendly environment. We aren't going to share this friend's observation with Wayne however, as I still have some ideas for wildlife that I'm working on. It would also seem that the wildlife have a few ideas of their own.

 On June 11th, I posted, "The Trouble With Solutions" in which I discussed the value of rats, mice, and other small food base rodents. I also discussed the importance of a balance that is maintained by the presence of predators. I have come to realize that things often look better on paper than they do in practice. And though I frequently relay to others a sentiment of; when you put out the welcome mat for wildlife, you had better be prepared for them to accept it, I am in practice, continually surprised by the  antics of wildlife. 

 

While I was approaching the Black Walnut tree on our lawn tractor, I successfully avoided a hole with a total dirt spray of 5'5".  The hole itself was 2 feet long x 1 foot wide x 19 inches deep. At the bottom of the hole was another hole which was 2" in diameter. This smaller hole seemed to change direction.

As previously noted, I was in fact not born yesterday; and yet as I examined the scene I did so with the premise that the woodchuck had made herself at home under the walnut tree in my front yard.  Most of my readers being quite a bit brighter than myself, have already solved this mystery; but I'm going to spell it out anyway. It wasn't until I was struggling to attach my game camera to the hydrangea in such a way as to capture the holes rightful owner, that it dawned on me that this was less of a story about homesteading and more of a story about predation. 

A few of the usual suspects came to mind:

Could it have been the fox?

The skunk?

  

Perhaps it wasn't a wild animal  at all, maybe it was the stray pup?

Because I had no idea when the large hole was excavated, I would need a fair amount of circumstantial evidence to piece together the events. I was hoping that Agatha Christie had it right and it would return to the scene of the crime.  In any case, I think that I was finally on to something, whoever dug the hole was after the rodent who first called it home; and because there was a smaller hole at the bottom, the rodent had escaped it's fate.  

Paparazzi! 

  Chipmunk

I would like to mention here, that I set my game cam towards that hole on the morning of the June 27th and repositioned it each day. By the evening of June 30th I had managed to capture chipmunks and squirrels. 

With one last attempt to frame the culprit, on July 1st as I screened my pictures, I started to wonder why it was that I immediately turned my focus to who done it? Why hadn't I instead, ended the whole dang thing by just filling in the blasted hole? In the five days since I discovered the offensive hole, no other hole materialized, so was there really any problem to be solved?. Perhaps it was past time to move on;  after all, what was I really going to do if I found out who done it? 

Bunny just passing by

Racoon with its head in the hole

                                                     

Although I hate to admit it, not everything can be blamed on the usual suspects (squirrels).  As much as a critter is going to do what a critter is going to do, and nobody will convince them otherwise; aren't we humans pretty much the same way? And sometimes that's what's worth getting a chuckle out of! - Norma Manning