At the first sign of moles...

kill them. That’s right kill them right away! At least, that’s what I should have done.

At the beginning of the summer I noticed I had a mole or moles living in my planter box. It wasn’t a big deal that they were there because they weren’t hurting anything. Yes, they did create some ugly mounds, but for the most part they didn’t cause too much damage. Also, they seemed pretty content to stay in the planter box because every time they would bump into the edging (the piece of rubber that separates the grass from the planter box) they would turn around and go away. So, I made a deal with the moles. (Personally, I don’t think they realized the deal I made with them!) The deal was this – you stay in the planter box and away from my grass, and I won’t try to kill you or your food – grubs!

Our deal was working out great until last week when I mowed the lawn. My lawn was really thick because of all the rain, and personally I thought my lawn was looking the best it has every looked. I was pretty proud of my lawn, until I mowed the patch on the side of my house. As I mowed the patch of grass on the side of my house, the problem revealed itself – the mole was not living up to his end of the bargain. He had jumped the edging and was now in my lawn. Not cool!

So, now it’s time. I’m going after the mole, and hopefully I have more success that last year.

But all of this made me think – if you don’t take care of a problem right away it only gets bigger. It doesn’t automatically fix itself. I guess after I kill the mole I should fix the problems I have with the toilet and my truck. I don’t think they are going to fix themselves!