Mountains and Moles #2

Moles are not a new pest in the Sume back yard. We’ve had them forever and tussled with them on and off over the years. Sometimes, if the cats and dogs in residence at the Sume Casa are not particularly gifted---or down right lazy—in mole catching, Shane had been known to set up a sniper position in a lawn chair next to a mole hill, just daring the fuzzy little vermin to move some dirt.

We’ve tried traps, chewing gum---seriously, chewing gum. The internet suggested putting Wrigley’s Spearmint chewing gum in the mole hills to drive moles away. Supposedly they hate spearmint chewing gum---Moles must be big fans of Juicy Fruit? ---and will immediately vacate the area. Right. Didn’t happen. Or maybe we were supposed to chew the gum first? Right. Tried it. Enjoyed the gum. Apparently so did the moles. In the end, I decided it was just a clever marketing ploy on the part of the fine people at the Wrigley gum factory to boost Spearmint gum sales because it seemed to have no noticeable effect on the mole vacancy rates.

Just in case there was something to the whole spearmint thing, I tried poking fresh spearmint from my gardens down the mole hills. Use caution if you try this approach, you might just end up accidentally rooting spearmint plants all over your lawn. Just sayin’.

And---in case the moles were enjoying their spearmint room freshener---I decided to go in a different direction. Cleaning the yard of dog droppings one day, I was inspired to poke the offal into the nearest mole hill--HA!! Take that, moles! Also, have this half-eaten birds and these three old gum wrappers!! I’ll admit I got a wee bit carried away trying to stuff mole offending items into the ground and stopping around muttering to myself.

Alas, all of these methods, while highly entertaining to my neighbors, lacked any efficacy as a mole deterrent. If anything, the mole seem encouraged by the attention and felt at home enough to crash the wedding...CENTER ASILE