My New Gopher

I have been watching Mr. Gopher for two days.  He is a very handsome, and a hard worker.  My brother snuck up on this exceptionally wary fellow to get this picture.  He is currently tearing up the back yard with alacrity.  I hate lawns anyway, a lifetime of mowing them in the summer has left me indifferent to what happens to them.  I put out a strawberry for him but judging from the teeth marks it did not find favor with him.  The ground here is mostly sand, he can really make headway.  They do not go very far from their holes and plug them when they are finished eating or throwing out spoil.  He is no doubt starting a huge family of other burrowing rodents, this does not bode well.  He is a pocket gopher, he has pockets alongside his cheeks that extend to his shoulders for carrying food.  These things are a marvel of survival adaption.

Photo by Steve Davis

My cat Patches caught this gopher March 3, 2020.  She brought him to me as a present, he was paralyzed and bloody.  I shooed her off and killed him, burying him among the ornamentals he avoided.  Cats love to hunt and Patches is death itself to anything she goes after.  I praised and petted her no end, she brought me something fine and I want her to know what a great cat she is.  Still, I liked the gopher and am always sorry when something dies in pain.

Young Miss Patches.