The Moleinator!

Have you ever heard of such a thing? Neither had I. The moles are tearing up the lawn and gardens. I called the "moleinator" to take care of the problem. He told me that it would cost $40.00 to come out and place the equipment. This is a "one-time" fee. Any time in the future, if I need to call him back, I won't have to pay for this.

Here are some of the traps.

 You can see here, how the moles are ruining the lawn.

 It's a little hard to see here, but the moles have raised up the ground under my rows of flowers.

Plus, they eat the roots of my flowers which prevents them from flourishing.

After the traps are in place, the moleinator charges $40 per mole caught. That's how he's able to guarantee his work. If he doesn't catch any, you don't pay. Butch thinks that he's gotten 4 already and that this could get expensive. Of course, the most natural way to get rid of them would be to get rid of their food source. It's a vicious cycle. Enriching the soil---which I'm big on---causes more worms which the moles like. I'll have to settle on the moleinator to take care of the problem.

Then, on Sunday, I pulled in to the driveway and saw a HUGE snake---I'm not exaggerating---at least 4 feet long---outside the garage. I tried to run over it, but couldn't see it. I gingerly stepped out of the care, now fearing I'd chased it in to the garage. I quickly ran in the house and made Butch get the groceries.

I was freaked out, but went out front anyway to cut some of my beautiful Endless Summer hydrangeas. We were going to Jack and Connie's for a barbecue, so I wanted to give her a vase full.

 They are just starting to bloom.

 Blue, pink and purple all on the same bush. They are just gorgeous!

 I kind of hate cutting them as they look so pretty in the yard.

Okay, back to the snake. I was afraid the snake might have escaped to the front, here. I whistled and made a lot of noise to make sure that snake knew I was there.

When I came back in the house, Butch said that the snake was still under my car! Oh my gosh! It could have gotten me when I stepped out of the car! That double-freaked me! He said that it did indeed escape to the front beds. He said that he thought it was the same snake he saw around back a week ago. I'm certain we have tons of snakes now. Later he admitted that it wasn't the same snake after all.

We were talking about the fact that for all the years we had outside cats, we never had critter problems. We didn't have squirrels and chipmunks eating all the birdseed and destroying the feeders. We didn't have moles or gophers (I really don't know the difference) destroying our yard and flower beds. We didn't have snakes---or at least we never saw them. Okay, we did have a few opossums and skunks living under the house (did you know that they cohabitant?). I guess they weren't afraid of a single cat. And of course, there was the time where the heron ate all of our fish. A cat would have prevented that. We might occasionally have a snake or mole, but they were the dead trophies the cats brought home. We mostly had one cat at a time, but had two for a few years. I'm all about natural pest control. But Butch is adamant that we are not going to have any more cats. He said he was tired of cleaning up their messes. Plus, with our travel schedule it would be a hassle for Stephanie or Mindy to have to take care of it for us. Another point that Butch made--the vet bills would be way more expensive than just hiring the moleinator!

Now if I could just find a "snakeinator!" I'm not afraid of bugs or spiders, but I hate snakes! And don't try to give me that crap about how they are good for the garden. Obviously, they are not taking care of the mole problem! If you want to live here, you have to work!