Where have all the ... gone?

One of the most challenging things to see is what isn't there. We haven't seen a single chipmunk around the property this year and it was only today we realized that they're gone. There was a strong hint yesterday, when the live trap we use for small varmints, after it had sat on the front stoop baited with peanut butter for a couple of days, finally caught a --- red squirrel. Since, for reasons beyond our understanding, Minnesota seems to consider red squirrels a game species, we promptly released it.

catching chipmunks two at a time

Photo by J. Harrington

Several Summers ago we were overrun with chipmunks. Something like 16 of them were trapped over the course of that Summer. This year -- nada. Not that we're complaining, as they said on Seinfeld. Anyhow, it must be moles or voles or something other than chipmunks that's making the tunnels around and under the stoop. The "mole" trap we bought a few years ago has never worked worth anything. Maybe it's time to consider an alternative or two, although a friend of ours, who successfully traps moles, claims we're setting it wrong. The number and locations of tunnels is getting out of hand so, even though it's Summertime, we can't just sit back and enjoy the easy living'. Maybe come Winter we'll relax and read The Wind in the Willows.

Catching the Moles

By Judith Kitchen

First we tamp down the ridges 

that criss-cross the yard 

then wait for the ground 

to move again. 

I hold the shoe box, 

you, the trowel. 

When I give you the signal 

you dig in behind 

and flip forward. 

Out he pops into daylight, 

blind velvet. 

We nudge him into the box, 

carry him down the hill. 

Four times we’ve done it. 

The children worry. 

Have we let them all go

at the very same spot?

Will they find each other?

We can’t be sure ourselves, 

only just beginning to learn 

the fragile rules of uprooting.

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