Hi there peeps!

Things are happening in the backyard.  I’m not sure if I’m making any progress with the gophers, but I know for a FACT that I have made their lives just a tad bit harder.

I’m hoping that they are getting the hint that the grass is greener on the other side.

Remember this?

While at Lowe’s, one of the salespeople said that I should try 311, the city’s phone number.  I called them.  Frustrating to say the least.  And I searched their website like a mutha.  What did I learn?  Well, this was kinda interesting…

Uhmm, okay.

But nothing about gophers.  Drats!!

So, after much pulling of hair and (gasp) poison and bombs, I just lost it and had it dug up.  I couldn’t look at those snarky little mounds a moment longer.  That 400 sqft patch looks like this now,

You can see that it was such a pain in the ass, that we never even bothered to pick up the rake.

Actually, it’s kinda funny… why is that even there?!  Obviously, you’d never use a rake to do this.

Well, I asked my gardner (or if I’m feeling fancy, landscaper) to dig out 2-3 feet down and lay a landscaping wire mesh.  I bought mine from Amazon, 1/4″ x 1/4″, and it ended up costing about $250, just for the mesh.

Wanna see something freaky?

Of course you do.

This is the gigantic gopher hole going UNDER the backyard fire pit and stone.

I can’t even imagine the kind of damage these critters have done.  (Me, shaking my head.)  The good news is that we will make this area a lot more drought tolerant and at least here, there won’t be any holes.  As for the rest of the yard, well, that’s another saga.

In the last week, I have seen holes popping up on the hillside.  It’s bad, you guys.  Really, really, really bad.

What else could I do?  I called a pro and they are coming on Monday.  I don’t want to hurt the little guys, but I’m scared they will destroy everything.

Lots of stuff happening in the backyard and certainly more to come.  Wish me luck on my gopher woes.