Landscaping, Chipmunks and Bloody Marys

This weekend we got a lot done. Friday the front of the house was landscaped. Saturday I got all my tomatoes, egg plants and peppers in their big pots. Sunday, we planted 5 trees.

Also, the chicken coop got off the trailer, and up on blocks, and is presently hovering over it's foundation.

Now, about those chipmunks...

On Saturday morning, I headed out for my horse back ride, and to deliver tomatoes to both my Mom and Dad. I returned a little after noon to find my husband, the neighbor, and my sister sitting on the front porch drinking Bloody Marys' and enjoying the new landscape.

I asked what was going on, and my husband pointed proudly to a bag on the porch and said "your sister is here to pick up her fresh meat." Now, the thing about my sister is that she works for a vet hospital that rehabs wild game. The presently have both a wing shot Bald Eagle (who would DO that?) and a Great Horned Owl. She told us that if we have any "dead things" that we should call her.

Naturally, I thought my husband had shot a rabbit, or the neighbor had trapped one of the chipmunks that were undermining his Japanese Maple. Well, I was partly right. The neighbor had trapped a chipmunk. He had come over to tell Tim, and to enjoy a drink on the porch. That's when the great chipmunk invasion began. The chipmunks had the cheek to venture into the brand new, very expensive, newly mulched landscaping! Chipmunks are the most destructive critters to a landscape. Deer might trim everything off, or accidentally pull something up while trying to trim it, but a chipmunk must look under everything you plant to see if you have buried some treasure there. They throw top dirt all over the mulch, ruin the roots, and plan acorns where you don't want them.

My husband is an excellent shot, but probably not good enough to hit a flitting chipmunk. So, how did they get the chipmunks? They ran them down and caught them with their bare hands. I kid you not. There is no man more motivated than he who has just spent nearly a month's salary on new landscaping. Add a Bloody Mary and a neighbor, and you have yourself a chipmunk catching machine! They got two this way before my husband remembered we had a net for catching unruly chickens. After that, it was easy. The eagle and the owl will eat well this week. And we are presently down to one chipmunk. The cat is working on that one.