Noises In the Garage

Just as the kiddos and I were sitting down to eat breakfast, I heard a rustling in the garage. The kiddos had just come back in from taking the dogs out to potty, so I figured a bird must have gotten trapped when they closed the garage. I opened one of the doors but, but nothing happened. Apparently this little bird needs a little more motivation. I decided to rattle the grill which was near the rustling I heard. Nothing happened and I saw no sign of the bird.


Maybe the poor thing fell into the grass catcher for the lawn mower. I gave it a little nudge and out popped a ground hog!


He ran to the back of the garage and I tried to instruct, in as calm of a voice as possible, Anton to open the front door for me to get into the house. With my heart in my throat, I started to think of my options. Mr. Ground Hog was not going to stay in my garage.


When I carefully peeked from the house door, I saw him wedged into the small space between some 5 gallon paint containers, the wall, and Karl' s tool chest.

Maybe if I throw some things at him, he might scurry out of the open garage door. I threw Isabella's rubber boots, I threw small pieces of lemons, nothing! Then Anton suggested squirting him with a water gun. He did not like this, as he showed me his teeth!

I called Karl and he told me to wait a bit, then get my truck out of the garage to give the ground hog as much space a possible to get out and not keep us from getting to the kiddos' afternoon activity. After some time, I tried to peek out again, but the kiddos were so curious, they rushed up on me when I cracked the door. In the commotion, because at that moment Mr. Ground Hog was walking across the garage floor, someone screamed, probably Isabella. Thus causing Mr. Ground Hog to dive behind the plywood leaning against the sidewall inside the garage. Great, now what!

Again I left him alone hoping he would come out. When it was time to leave for gymnastics, I had discovered a problem, my garage door would not close. The wire to the transformer had been cut. With a large pole in my hand, I manually lowered the garage and hoped he was gone.

When Karl returned home, he began searching. I noticed some things had moved after I left for gymnastics, so Mr. Ground Hog had to still be in there. Karl took my pole and began moving things around. Then I asked if he thought the ground hog would have got back into the grass catcher. Karl gingerly poked the bag remarking the bulge gave his place away. With a garden hoe in hand, Karl tugged the bag towards the outside and began to shout things like "Go On! Git on outta here!" I did not know my husband could start speaking in "Southern Slang" but maybe he thought it was the only thing Mr. Ground Hog could understand. The next 1/2 hour resulted in Karl trying to get the ground hog from going back into the garage and away from the house. When it was time for dinner, we were not sure where it had gone, but at least he was no longer in the garage or on the porch. Karl thinks he might have hid under the propane tank until dark. In the mean time, we are not to open the garage for a few days in case Mr. Ground Hog tries to sneak back into the warmer garage than out on the land.

I am still wondering how long he had been in the garage. It had to be longer than the morning, as the garage door as only opened for a few minutes that morning, not enough time for the ground hog to make a bolt into the garage, especially with the dogs coming in and out. Maybe, I should have gotten a hold of Doug, one of Karl's other suggestions earlier in the day. I was worried Doug might miss and put a few holes in the garage wall. Karl said very definitively, "He won't miss! Just give you a blood puddle on the floor." For those wondering why not poison him, well, it is illegal to poison them because the Red Tail Hawks, Bald Eagles, and Turkey Vultures eat the ground hogs. Those birds of prey are federally protected and poisoning their food chain is the same as poisoning the birds. But you can shoot or trap the ground hogs.