Another exciting adventure from the Wilds of New Hampshire.
Second thing is the locals
We got to notice the groundhogs more and more often --- for a while. They were tricky creatures, slipping in and out of sight and popping up just when you least expect it.
Sparrow watched them closely and thought about them, wary at first, but curious.
There was a Mama and a Papa and a boy and a girl. I never did get to know their names but they certainly left an impression. The first time I spotted one he had stopped for a moment, mid pasture. Maybe his job is like Mr. O!’s, our Rooster.
They both spend the day keeping watch. But this one was also chattering warnings and whistling when startled.
Oh he had big bottom teeth and his front claws were fierce looking, but he was kinda cute, from a distance, slinking around munching on greens and flowers.
The first time I ran into Boyo (that is what I'll call him), he had found a fine treat. Wish I had found it first but he did leave a few crumbs in the grass and I pecked them up as soon as he ran off. Always running off, those guys. You’d think they were the chickens.
The littlest one didn't show up right away. I'll call her Kato, and I ran into her munching on what looked like an early strawberry. A little sour for my taste but we all have our own favs, right?
I like 'em fresh from the caretaker, with some oatmeal mixed in. Add a few nuts and seeds and I am right there for it. But she liked that sour stuff, I guess.
So gradually we all "met" out in the open but they always scurried off. Even if it was just the caretaker wandering around they always took off in a flash. No idea where they disappeared to but we soon got used to seeing them darting here and there. Sometimes they found the best treats first, but sometimes we did, ha ha!
Now we have a sweet setup with our own luxury coop and a little protected run and then, of course, the big fenced in garden but these guys had a burrow in the perennial garden. We liked to stomp paths through the tall flowers looking for bugs so it was a real shock one day when Boyo popped out, chattering away, defending his home. That time he had us running off like chickens.
Guess what?
The caretaker noticed when she came out to the garden for her daily supper foraging.
Shock!
We had been pecking away on the young tomato plants too so the garden was looking pretty battered according to her reaction. Soon new barriers were put up to keep us all out of most of the garden.
As it turned out, some old guy started coming by their burrow every day and one by one the groundhogs disappeared. Kato was in the garden at the time, trapped inside the new fencing so she burrowed in among the tall flowers and got to live right next to her favorite treats.
The caretakers were perplexed when the produce continued to disappear. The groundhogs were all gone, or so they thought.
Sparrow watched this sad state of affairs. Poor Kato was alone and frightened. She cried and chattered. Where was her Mama?
Maybe Sparrow could imagine a way to help…something like the clever GloBuff trick. The chickens were all fenced outside that part of the garden. What could this clever Sparrow do to help this odd garden mate? Sparrow called a meeting with her wise sisters.
This unhappy but sated girl needs to get back with her family. The food is good here but she needs her family.
Our caretakers do a pretty good job but they don’t listen to our concerns. We would need to turn this problem into effective action!
The sun disappeared as it did every day, so we retired to our chicken house, hoping for inspired dreams.
When the caretaker showed up we were ready for action.
I've kept a little secret from you. I have powers too!
I can influence the minds of people, like the caretaker. She may care for us but she doesn't understand us. When she came to open the gate to begin the day I subliminally stimulated her mind so she suddenly KNEW that Kato was trapped inside the garden fence, munching her way through the vegetables.. She stepped over the inner fencing to look through the perennial flowers thinking she just had a bright idea that one more groundhog might be in there. She never knew what hit her mind, but off she went to get the Havahart.Kato was trapped!
Images of the groundhogs, because I never have a camera with me for spontaneous shots, are from Pixabay. The chickens are mine.
Engaging and enjoyable, thanks for mentioning this!
Yes, my groundhog story as told to 4-7 year olds.
But in reality...
LOL this sounds like the great beginnings of a children's story book, like the B Beatrice Potter books. Good stuff
Thanks.
The link at the top of the story goes to the first of the Chick Stories about How I Fooled the Fox. Too many of the images I got off the web a long time ago so I would have to replace those and attribute them before I put that story on here.
I took the time to do this one today because groundhog(s) are once again invading the garden and I haven't managed to trap any yet.
Yesterday I saw one in Lee's run but it managed to run off in seconds.
Great story!
Thanks.
I wrote this story some years ago but was reminded of it by the groundhog in the run yesterday.
In real current life I have had the Havahart set up for days now but catching nothing yet. I have some juicy melon in there. That should do it in theory so maybe it is Mama, Papa, Boyo and Kato who have come back and now they know better.
Wonderful story and the photographs are beautiful. We have groundhogs now and the big dogs (inside fences) are killing them. And one neighbor's garden is destroyed by them. Another neighbor put moth balls in her garden and those groundhogs just kicked them out.
My dog died this winter of old age. Yesterday the chicken managed to get inside the garden, twice, so I would hesitate to use mothballs.
Freshened the melon in the trap again this morning...
So sorry to hear about your dog. I can see why you hesitate to use moth balls. My neighbors do not have farms. Just gardens in their yards.
You never cease to amaze me, you are quite a good writer. You are witty and very entertaining. I have a title for your next book-"Over Hill & Dale, Lee Explores the New Hampshire Wilds"🐓
Thanks so much. I wrote them for the middle set of grand kids but they are too old for them now.
I will go out now for my hourly visit and we can brain storm ideas. She will probably protest that I have to let her out of the run so she can collect story material but I am not ready to do that yet.
The reason I started on steemit is because my husband had read about it and he thought I could use those stories here. I will have to put up the first one but it takes so much work and I can't replicate the formatting of the web version here.
Awww!!! I Love the happy ending!! Thank you for telling this totally amazing story, I was completely wrapped up in it and entertained!
Thank you! I had fun writing it but in reality the groundhogs are real pests!
It sounds like they're slugs on STEROIDS!!!
This was very entertaining! I hope there's a chapter two from the birds.
Thanks.
Actually this is the second. I started steemit in hopes of publishing the first but it was too difficult to see how to do it at the time. Now it is just a matter of taking the time.
It is sitting here for now
My grandson who is featured in the first one is coming up for a week starting tomorrow. Maybe we can come up with a third!
Last year...Oh, Chick Stories Often...
We are likely to have at least one rainy day to work on it. I bet he can even actually write it this year too.
That's awesome. You totally should! I bet he's proud of the stories, too.
Thanks.
Know anyway(s) to encourage those groundhogs who are visiting again to come into the Havahart?