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
