Well, it’s not looking too good for the humans i.e. the McKee Ranch. Yep, the critters seem to have taken over.

I went to Gracie, our cat, for help but she was too busy sharpening her claws, for what I do not know? However, I urged her to get on her mole-catching attire and help with this crisis. I mean they are everywhere, but no action yet.

Maybe I should look into the south border strategies taking place right now in the national news. There are many like-situations: The moles came over the McKee Ranch border, eating our food (worms, insects), and using our place as their sanctuary. When I have to pay tax to support them, I will.

Not sure if Gracie will come through, though. She is mighty busy, what with sunbathing, bird watching and fuzzing her tail, there is little time left. But then I took KayKay, the pup, on her leach for our morning walk. She seemed to be on task when she took her potty right on top of one of the mole-holes. I suppose one of the varmints had an early morning shower, quiet unexpected.

Yikes! By this morning we seemed to have doubled population with our new tenants. So I took to the internet. Surely there will be a mole problem answer, maybe even a mole app?

First off, I found way too much information, more than I even wanted to know. From the gosh-awful picture, I surmise we are dealing with a hairy-tail mole. It’s so ugly it is hard to believe that a mother could love it. Also there is 4 to 5 per litter birthed each summer. What?!

Counting the mole holes in my yard and multiply by five, come July the McKee Ranch will be hard to find amongst the hairy-tails. Eeeeeek!

Oh, and unfortunately they have a long life span, around three years old, but the good news, their diet is mainly worms and insects. At maturity the things weigh around 1½ pounds and are 4 inches in length.

Hairy-tailed moles are most active during the day, when they tunnel under the ground in search of food. They may also move around at night, sometimes emerging from their tunnels to forage on the surface. In winter, each mole occupies its own network of tunnels and will close up any links with the tunnels of other moles. However, during summer the males, females and young all share a network of tunnels. Hairy-tailed moles dig extensive tunnels at two levels: an upper level just beneath the surface, used in warm weather, and a lower tunnel, used as a winter retreat. http://elelur.com/mammals/hairy-tailed-mole.html

From this information, I can look forward to moles year round. Great!

Now I’m getting desperate. So next I clicked, How to get rid of moles in my yard? Below I’ve listed a few of the many suggestions:

Setup live traps, Offer Juicy Fruit Chewing Gum, Dawn Dish Washing Liquid, Used Cat Liter, Build a fence with 2 to 3 feet of fence beneath ground, Cayenne Pepper, Moth Balls, Cover lawn with gravel, Dryer Sheets, get rid of the worms (food source) and a Ultrasonic mole chaser. I wonder if the last one is a robot?

Each one is an interesting suggestion, some of which I had heard could work, emphasis on the word could, however I admit that I had not gotten the info about Juicy Fruit. But I must quickly add that perhaps KayKay had the right idea when she offered the early morning shower while on our walk today. The results were that somewhere deep down in the burrow is a grouchy, hairy-tail type guy, kicking and spitting. I am just afraid his retaliation will be ten new mole holes by daybreak.

McKee Ranch versus the Hairy Tail Mole … let the humans be victorious.

Anne B McKee is a Mississippi historian, writer and storyteller. She is listed on the Mississippi Humanities Speakers Bureau and Mississippi Arts Commission’s Performing Artist and Teaching Artist Rosters. See her web site: www.annemckeestoryteller.com.