I was bemoaning my most current trial to a dear friend recently.  She sympathized with my plight and then told me to go check out The Pleasant Times (I think so I could appreciate that I am not suffering alone in this trial).

It all started back in our first Idaho spring...

We noticed many large mounds of dirt in one corner of our backyard in the spring of 2006.  I regularly trampped them down, knowing some little critter was busy at work.  I thought if all his holes were stompped tight he'd give up and move on.  He didn't.  However, he stayed in his little corner.  That was alright by me for it wasn't a corner where the grass was thriving and it was near the neighbor's yard; where I secretly thought he'd make his way too since their grass was much greener (really, the grass is greener on the other side).  Yet, the little fellow stayed put.

One summer day this year I saw a big fellow sitting in his newly dug hole in my FRONT yard flowerbed!  I was stunned to say the least because the distance from his backyard corner is considerable and he was now awfully close to my newly planted dahila croms (and don't they like bulbs?).  I immediatly informed my dear husband that he could now do away with the gopher.  (I think he had been secretly planning on this for some time -- he came home the next day with a bag that he hid away in the garage.)

I did try filling up some of the holes with large amounts of water and for some weeks there was no sign of new digging.  The neighbor came over one afternoon to tell me of her gopher trouble (I was secretly relieved that he had moved on) and I felt confident that now that Mr. Gopher had tasted of her professionally landscaped yard he wouldn't come back to our DIO (Did It Ourself) yard.  {Sigh}  That is not what happened.

We planted a garden.  Need I say more?  I have no flourishing pumpkin and squash plants (aren't they the cockroaches of the plant world?).  I have only two green bean bushes left.  Two days ago, Mr. Gopher started felling the last standing stalks of sweet corn left from the ravages of two Idaho windstorms.  Timber!! Just like an Oregon woodsman.  I could almost taste those cobs as they fell.

My only consolation is that it is fall and soon it won't matter how much produce is left in the garden, the ground will freeze up and Mr. Gopher will be stopped for the winter.  Unless of course he gets a hold of one the backhoes.