Lounge of Tomorrow

I killed a gopher yesterday. Now I feel a little bad about it.

It was sort of on a whim. I walked out of the house and noticed yet another gopher mound. We have a medium sized amount of lawn consising of what I think of as the front, side and back area. In the front area alone were at least 20 mounds, including through my flower bed.

Last year, our first year here, I planted a flower garden and would come out in the morning to find entire plants missing. It was frustrating. I had tried drowning them out with water with no success.

This year I've been wanting to start a vegetable garden and knew the gopher would be an issue. I saw the fresh mound and went for the garden hose, easily finding his underground tunnel. I started the water down it and after a good 5 minutes of it going, I wondered just how far it was reaching.

About this time, I remember reading online that the gopher is not supposed to drown but he'll pop out of one of his other mounds and I should bonk him with a shovel. And right then, of course, out comes his soppy wet butt out of another mound. And he just sits there.

At this point, I'm thinking OH NO! WHAT NOW! I don't REALLY want to have to kill this thing personally do I?

I call my dogs - 2 chihuahua's. One about 6 pounds and the other, Mousey, is about 4. Mousey (good girl!) came running towards me and the gopher. The gopher just sat there. Mousey did not see it. (tricky gopher!) I pointed out the gopher and before I could think, Mousey had picked it up and shook the living heck out of it.

I should point out now that Mousey really thinks she's a cat. She goes in the cats litter box. She does not play with dog toys (never has) but since getting a cat, she goes crazy for the cat toys (and still doesn't play with the dog toys.) She also tries to sneak the cats food!

Anyway, she's shaking the gopher and I'm wondering what next. She puts it down and it looks up wiht the big ol' teeth and I'm thinking again WHAT NEXT WHAT SHOULD I DO! so I got the shovel and bonked it on the head.

The whole time my bigger, more aggressive dog Rocky who likes to run with the big dogs in the neighborhood when he gets out and acts all tough? He hid in the house.

I scooped up the gopher and put him in the trash. I think maybe I should have thrown him over the fence for something to eat - maybe I'd feel better about it then? My husband assures me he's already back in our lawn since I didn't cut his head off. ! eek!

For now, I'm considering a raised planter with chicken wire for the bottom and around the edges. We also have bunnies and there is NO WAY I can do that to another gopher let alone a bunny.