Groundhog Day!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Last Wednesday evening, we had a terrible rain storm and our power went out for five hours. During this blackout, we noticed water pouring in from our basement window and the window well filling with water. We actually had about 12 inches of water that we could see, almost like a porthole in a ship, just rising and rising in that window well and several frogs swimming on top. My husband was out in the storm bailing frogs and water most of the evening. He said he would fix everything this week.

Jump to this week...we woke up to another bad storm and I asked my daughter to go check the window. She came upstairs and said there wasn't any water in the window area, but there appeared to be a BEAVER trapped in the window well. At 6:30 am, these are not the words you want to hear. Sure enough, I go downstairs and there is an animal staring back at me through the window, that does have four front buck teeth, but a furry tail. Of course, I got on the phone to my husband (who is never home when these things happen) and told him (ok, I yelled) that I really wished he had covered that area like he said he was going to do. He said it was not a beaver, but a ground hog, and just kept laughing that we thought it was a beaver.

All day, I tried to get the ground hog out. I put two large branches down there thinking he would just crawl up and be on his way. Nope. Next, I tried a board with a peanut butter path and again no luck. Meanwhile, the ground hog is chewing all three things like he is building a dam in that well and relaxing in between all the chewing. Chewing, pooping, and relaxing....he seemed like he was starting to like the accommodations. I had to leave to volunteer and called my husband again to tell him our friend was still there, could he think of something, and hopefully, get him to leave by the time I came back. Do you know what he said then...."I don't think you should let the dogs near the groundhog" and seemed surprised when I said, "Well, then in that case I have to cancel the play date I scheduled at 3. Hold on, while I go tell the ground hog." Hey, sarcasm gets me through sometimes, what can I say.

Anyway, I came home at 8:00 pm and you got it, the ground hog was still there. Apparently, what my husband thought would be a good plan to rid our house of the ground hog included him working out, reading his Bike magazine, and having a snack. Oddly, none of those things made the ground hog leave. He did say he tapped on the window a couple of times. Next, he said he would deal with it when he got off work today and I quickly explained that the poor ground hog was getting out of that hole asap. So, Plan B was concocted in the garage by him as he looked around to see what could be used for ground hog removal. Did I mention he is an engineer? Out he comes with a cross country ski and tried to place it under the ground hog and expected the animal to balance on it while he lifted it up and out. I was dumbfounded that it didn't work...it seemed like such a sure thing. Finally, he got a bucket, managed to push it into the bucket and was able to hoist that up and now our friend is free. The last words I told him last night were, "somewhere out there is a little ground hog that thinks you are a hero!" Oh, and the cover is now soundly in place.

[Nancy, Ned, Clancy, and Charlie]

Just goes to show you that behind every great man...... Sometimes these engineer types are sooo dumb. Maybe the groundhog wanted to wait for the next issue of the Bike magazine.

[F, Calla & Luca]

Well, I think I have one that still opens with no grate. But I'd have to be a lot more limber and thin to get out that way. Not too worried though since I have double dip recessions, global warming, oil spills etc. to think about.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

In our area, it's a fire code law that at least one of the basement windows has to open enough to serve as an escape route, and it's a code violation to have grates over them that don't open.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Rosey, My DH said he is not interested in being a Gopher Whisperer and he has retired his cross country ski/gopher getter. Joanne, I am with you on the bats. My in laws had them in their house and I slammed my door shut, stuffed blankets at the base of the door, and yelled for my kids to crawl to mommy under a blanket. The protective mother thing did not kick in at all.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

Karen, Thanks for the photo of the window well. I am pretty sure I would look like Winnie the Pooh stuck in the honey tree if I tried to escape out of our window :) It would not be pretty. Linda, my DH got his degree in Chemical Engineering at Purdue University. Go Boilermakers. F Parker, Vern and Fudge have been fixed and never got near enough to the ground hog anyways to see if Gopherdoodles could really happen. Thanks to everyone for all the fun comments.

[F, Calla & Luca]

No one really knows what a gopherdoodle would be like....yet.

[Linda and Murphy]

Thanks for the great explanation and photos of a window well.
I sent my oldest son way up north to Purdue to get his masters in engineering. I wonder if he knows what a window well is......Or a gopherdoodle.

[F, Calla & Luca]

I never thought of the windows as an escape from the basement. I had hardware cloth, really a heavy duty kind of metal grid, put over one of my basement windows to prevent critters from getting in cause my windows can be opened to air out the basement. No worries, I try to go to the basement as little and as briefly as possible.

[Karen, Jasper and Jackdoodle]

If Gracie chases a skunkdoodle, it will be more punishment for you than her, lol! I don't care what anyone says about tomato juice, etc., that smell lingers!

[Nancie & Gracie Doodle]

I love the "gopherdoodle" name!!! Skunkdoodle isn't bad either. We don't have gophers but we sure do have skunks!!! That smell just does not go away. We have one living in our back fence and I'm sure if Gracie Doodle ever saw it she would think it was a pussy cat and the chase would be on. Might cure her of chasing pussy cats. Just say the word and she goes crazy!!!! My son in Boston has window wells and they are not covered. I think I had better give my So. Cal boy a heads up!!! Thanks for the good laugh and the photo!