This is my method I previously posted a year ago. I begin by washing my hands and putting on latex gloves, and cloth gloves over them. I first find an active area. Not one with a 6" high mound but one just started (I used to mow the ground and see who started to kick dirt up - I have 1.7 acres). Next I use a 1/4" steel rod that I can bend but retains it's shape. I use this to locate the actual hole and direction of the tunnel. Using a narrow hand trowel, I dig out the entrance to the tunnel. I try to be the least invasive as possible. I place the trap in the hole as far as I can without tearing up the ground. I use McAbee kill traps (I'm sure most open spring traps are the same) This is a tedious process, and I typically trigger the traps 4 or 5 times just to get one set right. The trap is tied to a stake using bailing wire - they will chew through string. I then put a stick of gum directly behind the trap. I've read and heard from a number of sources that they use Juicy Fruit out of the wrapper to kill gophers. Theory is that they can't resist eating and either choke on it or are unable to pass it through their body and die. Hearing of this, I integrated this into my "system", but I use the juicy fruit in the foil wrapper (only) as bait. If I am working the tunnel entrance I leave it uncovered (on the theory that the gopher may think this new hole just caved in). However if I return to find the entrance filled in, it probably means you are very close to a main tunnel. When working a main tunnel you have to put a trap in each direction.. After I set a trap in each direction, I cover it with nearby grass and sticks, and cover it lightly with the dirt I removed from the hole. I find that committing a lot of time over a short period is better than a little time over a long period. After buying our home I finally got around to doing something about the gophers. After I put together my process I caught 14 in one day using only 10 traps. Ultimately I killed 85 gophers on my property in about a month, almost all of them in the first 3 weeks. I have not found poison to be that effective, and definitely less satisfying. My current count is 118 dead in 15 months. One other thing I've heard is that you should leave the dead gopher in the hole so that other gophers won't reoccupy the same hole. But with a dog on the property I would not want over 100 dead gophers in the ground on my property. Rinse your traps after each time you use them, and wash them regularly in soap and water. Some people use vegetable oil to lubricate them The only thing I would add is that I now remove all dirt kicked out by the gophers. I use it on my property to fill old gopher holes (isn't it ironic). Otherwise you end up with large areas of compacted dirt without anything growing out of it.

Thank you Nancy (WIZARDNM)-I made your ham loaf last night and it was fabulous. Ok it does have a funny story behind it, after I get it all put together and put it in the oven I noticed I didn't put in the ground mustard-luckily this was only 5 minutes into cooking time. So I yank it out and put the mustard in it, moosh, moosh, pat pat, make presentable..no one will know but me! About 45 min later house smelling yummy, I go pour off fat as directed, well instead of using a baster to suck out the fat because I hate cleaning that "sucker", I decide to tilt the pan over a can in the sink. Well as I was tilting the loaf decided that it needed a little cleaning and half of it fell into the sink...plunk, slat, moosh everywhere. After much cursing, the other half went back in got lots of basting since its other half decided the sink was a better place than the oven...arrggghhh. But it was fabulous! Everyone ate it up. DD even ate it and she hates ham, first thought it was meatloaf until DH told her it was ham but she looked at me and said "that's ok Mom, it still taste good even though I hate ham". : ) So thank you. Oh I also owe thanks to someone on the another thread that mentioned that she heats 2 pizza stones and then places the pizza in between to make it like a pizza oven..tried that technique and that worked wonders. Thank you all for your suggestions. Sol-thank you for the recipe! Heidi

Yes, Cathy, he and I both managed to put on some weight. I put on about 15 pounds he put on a LOT more than that. I think it was sitting every night with a couple of glasses of wine and cheese "for Cooper". Yeah, Cooper got fatter too, the vet isn't impressed, LOL, but Cooper's happy! Blue Cross insurance isn't though, if your BMI is over a certain number, they make you pay more, so it's got to come off. Dang, now I want muffins and not healthy ones either! Annie

Claudia, I LOVE that picture! It reminds me of my girls at that age, "stuffing" a turkey nearly as big as they were. And now the grandkids are getting big too. (sigh) I didn't think about great-grandkids, so there's still hope of little ones "helping" me in the kitchen! Sharon, I'm more patient with the grandkids than I was with my girls, but I had a busier life then too. You'll do just fine, plus you can teach all the "fun" cooking stuff, instead of the day to day "duty" cooking... Annie