Doug's Sounding Board

We finally had part of our fence replaced in the front. It was leaning at abou a 30 degree angle ever since the winds hit last year and we think it was mostly being help up by the passion flower vines on top. Our neighbor decided it was time before we did and called the fence people and we just paid our share. Four more neighbors to go. The fence people were good and we will probably use them for the remainder of the perimeter. Pictures will come later.

I finally got some gopher cinch traps to deal with the gopher problem. Right around that time Grover killed one (and ate half of it before I stopped him). Using the cinch traps has been effective and after not seeing any new gopher activity for a few days we decided to clean up and put down a new layer of mulch/bark. The next morning in the areas we worked on there were four fresh gopher mounds. I think as they are being taken care of new ones are moving in from the 1/2 acre lot next door. More trapping took care of that one though. Still there are still a few lurking elsewhere in the yard. I’m trying to get them in the neighbor’s yard too (with permission) to stop the exodus.

Today we were going to excavate the flagstones making up the front patio to put gopher wire between them so the gophers won’t mess that up in the future. Starting on the first one was ok until I saw a bee fly to the ground and disappear down a hole next to the flagstone. I stepped over for a closer look and within a few minutes there were a number of bees looking for the holes in the dirt I had just cleared away. Looking around the rest of the flagstones I now see a lot of these holes. I stopped because I don’t want to be uncovering a nest and pissing off all the bees inside.