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.

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

One more thing........... YOU HAD RAIN?

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Wow F. 50 Bucks. I called the Sheriff and he came out at 4am to get the sick bat out of my basement--no charge. Just call 911 the next time --I know, I know, it is NOT an emergency but when it starts looking at you in the windows I think it is and Emergency! Ewww

[Frannie & Callie]

That cracked me up! I'm so surpised that your DH's snack and workout didn't send the gopherdoodle on his merry way! (I have this same kind of sarcasm and felt like I could have written this post, just without the DH, kids, and windo wells - I'm not sure what those are)

[F, Calla & Luca]

I once smelled a skunk for a few weeks until I discovered it, very, very dead--did I say dead-- in a window well. It was so disgusting I couldn't deal with it. Not having even a reluctant DH at the time I got the animal control folks to come out. The lady who came out just scooped it up with a heavy duty black plastic bag, an easy $50. I asked her what she thought happened to the skunk. She guessed it had drowned in the window well in the heavy rains we'd had. She then tied the bag to a rack on top of her car--good idea that. It only smelled like skunk around my house for a few more weeks : ) Sometimes a nice apt. in the city sounds good but the idea of having no garden, having to take dogs out on a leash day and night and having cockroaches cures me quickly.

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

I am so glad it was not a skunk.

[Suzann, Rosey & Bandit]

gopherdoodle! Rosey and Bandit would love one of those, they are always trying to get the attention of skunkdoodle that live across the street!

[Laurie, Fudge, and Vern]

My husband doesn't need to know I wrote this post :) What happens on Doodlekisses stays on Doodlekisses, right? Yes, new dog breed just announced....Gopherdoodle.

[Allyson, Peri & Taquito]

This is one of the funniest posts I have read in a long time - toooo funny! I love your sarcasm! I am imagining your husband with a ski trying to get the little guy to balance. HA!

[Joanne ~ Spud*]

Did I say he was an engineer? LMAO! This is so funny. He kind of looks like a doodle doesn't he folks?