Louis Lines

Tunnel Vision

Not too long ago we had an animal set up residence right next to our house. It dug a tunnel. It was a very deep and very big tunnel down into the ground. I could have walked right down into it so you know it was big! :) My dad said the tunnel was not in a good place and would probably cause water to get into our basement since the dirt was all moved away from the foundation. He decided he had to move the animal to another area. My mom thought moving it to the back of our property would be far enough but my dad was afraid the critter would find his way back up to the house and dig again. So he borrowed a humane trap from our neighbor. He first put apples in there and our poor old possum that lived under the deck was caught and taken to the park early one morning before my mom was awake. Boy was she mad at my dad for taking him away. She told my dad the tunnel digging culprit was not the possum but a ground hog. My dad had no idea what was actually doing the digging and assumed it was the possum when he saw him in the trap. He put more apples in the trap but caught nothing. One day my mom & dad came home to see a ground hog sitting on top of the trap and washing himself. MOL! He was using the trap for a seat. Ethan and I really liked watching the ground hog do his work. Then taking a break every so often to walk to the pond and get himself a nice cool drink. My mom liked the ground hog too and wanted him left alone. But my dad insisted he had to go. Next my dad tried carrots to lure the ground into the trap but those didn't do any better than the apples. Finally he used an ear of corn and some sunflower seeds. My mom heard the trap door snap shut that night and called my dad at work. He took the ground hog to our local park to let him go. He would not come out of the cage! I guess he wanted to go back home. :( My dad then eased the trap end down and the ground hog slid out and ran off. I gotta tell ya that me, Ethan & my mom sure do miss the ground hog and the poor possum. I still look over to the ground hog's place sometimes just to be sure he is really gone. I hope he likes his new home as he does had a creek right by there and all. And yea, no Dad to get mad at his digging either.

Love,
Louis