I live on a farm in VA and have finally had to give in and allow someone to come shoot these guys. I quite love them, and have huge respect for the grand daddy, who has lived at this farm longer than I have, surviving total bulldozing of the old garden, complete rebuilding of the old farm house (under which he also used to live) and my 2 Border Collies. Besides, they remind me of my beloved Lhasa Apso who has passed away. HOWEVER, I've been living here for 10 years and starting 2 years ago, the GH (who has since created quite an impressive giant condo complex under a pile of old wood from the old razed barn) finally started annihilating my garden. Despite what some people here have posted I can tell you, they are quite smart & have a keen sense of hearing. GHs live in burrows underground (like a cave). It always has more than one entrance/exit. They generally come out early in the morning and at sunset. I have an entire wire cattle fence, along with electric hot wire all along the entire bottom perimeter of my fence to keep my dogs in (who like to constantly dig under and run away whenever they hear thunder, gun shots or just feel like it!). This hot wire is set for the highest level of shock, and will keep a horse or bull away! This is only 1 foot away from the GH woodpile den. My garden is inside this fence and then inside yet another fence, which is also hot wired at the ground level. Yet, the GHs know full well how to go around the fence, burrow under the fence, whatever. All I know is they have started again eating every tomato I have that starts to ripen and will absolutely take every melon we are growing. And they could care less about my Border Collies who know the word "Ground Hog" and will dive and dig at the hole if you say that to them. The GH just goes somewhere in his condo complex and doesn't give a hoot. I should say though that my 2 dogs are 2 goofy lovebugs and routinely take their balls & toys to the cows and any other critter in hopes they will play, and would never hurt any little critter intentionally (unlike most farm dogs.) If they did encounter the GH, they'd probably offer him a tomato. After years of only seeing the old grand daddy GH, last week I saw him showing the ropes to a little one. Last night my farm tenant came over with a high powered rifle and shot the old guy, but also said he saw another giant one (probably the mom) and a smaller one. There is likely a huge family under there. It made me feel guilty and wistfully sad, but at the end of the day, not only would I be fighting a losing battle of the garden, wild animals carry disease, fleas, ticks with Lyme, if cornered they have huge claws & fangs, and the holes they dig can cause someone (or my dogs or cows) to break their leg. If you are going to try a humane trap (which I did), they are extremely smart and you will have a long wait and will have to create the trap to mimic a hollow den or they are not dumb enough to go into a metal contraption - LOL! I agree with the hunters posting above that if you are going to shoot at it, get someone who knows what they are doing and will kill the animal humanely and put him out cleanly. Shooting at him with a BB gun is cruel, as it will not kill him, just cause wounds, suffering and illness. Hope this helps! Now I'm also on the case of the bunnies, voles and whatever is now eating all my blackberries! ARGH! LOL!!!!

Sue I enjoyed visiting your blog. That was the first picture I had seen of the front yard; all I had seen before was the beds up near the house....the one on your blog today showed it in perspective. I love the curving lines that follow the curve of the street! I have a dog that makes my gardening life more complicated too, but can't contain him so he does what he does. Liked the pictures of the deck and all the potted things...which I don't do. I always forget to water. You have lots of unique and interesting containers. Where were you when they were asking about lath houses. Yours is so nice and offers you good shade for plants and people alike. I have you bookmarked and will be back soon. Glenda

Marcia---Yes, those banana plants are mine. Here is a picture I posted last July showing my newly planted 2 dozen blueberries. The bananas are behind them. The pummelo tree is to the left. Anna---I do feel so lucky to have my 2 acres. I just love to be out working in my yard. Sometimes I stay out there all day. coffeemom---I almost forgot to mention, you got me laughing! My husband isn't into gardening, but he will do the heavy work that I am not physically able to do myself. I leave the tree dropping to him. As for my powers, my powers are that he says that he benefits from the veggie garden. He will eat the vegetables but he won't eat any fruit except the oranges and pineapples. I would like to say peaches but the squirrels get them first. Tom---That's not my back yard--it's my front yard, near the street. My house is located toward the back of the property. My yard is designed backwards. I don't mind because it does help with privacy. Tom, I would love to trade cuttings. I can root the poinsettia for you first before mailing it. I realize that the plumeria doesn't need to be rooted first. Today I got some tree dahlia cuttings that I potted up. If you are interested in one of those, I can include that too. The mother plant I saw was 5-6 feet tall. It is a background plant for sure. Christine

I like the flowers because it's all part of the seasonal process, but some scapes are prettier than others. Also, bees, butterflies, and hummingbirds like them. If you want baby hostas you'd want to leave them on to possibly make some seed. I wonder if hawks lose old claws for new ones, or if that's bad news for that hawk to have lost one. The closest I've come is finding nail sheaths from my cats.