Girl vs. Groundhog, Rounds 1 & 2

I may be from Pennsylvania, the home of that most famous groundhog, Punxsutawney Phil, also home to the second-most famous groundhog, Gus, the spokes-critter for the Pennsylvania Lottery, but that doesn't mean I want giant holes in my yard!

This fat-cat has been digging giant craters in the yard for years, and we used to see him all the time, brazenly sunning himself out in the open yard. Not so much now that Oliver is on the scene, but it is evident that he's still around.

Since we've been digging up the sidewalk, and we had to dispose of some of the debris from that project, mom loaded a wheel barrow with soil-y rock, and I filled in the three largest of the groundhog holes. Then another load of rock-y soil on top. I had plans to sprinkle grass seed over the bare patches.

That was Saturday. I was pretty pleased with myself when I was done. By Wednesday he had managed to dig his way through the loose stones and tunnel back out.

I was hopping mad to see that new hole, and I set about fixing that groundhog. He is not going to outsmart me.
I found a large field rock from the giant pile filling my front yard flower bed, and I dropped it in his newly dug hole. Then I filled in around it with more rocky soil. Take that!