MOLES

The moles are back. Somekitty killed one and left it under a large shade tree for me to find when I started raking freshly mowed grass. There are three suspects that I know of: Flower, my own lovely kitty; the cat-next-door, a pretty outdoor cat; the beautiful but horrid male purebred that still comes into my yard to chase Flower (Terri is in charge of chasing him out of the yard).

It appears to be a star-nosed mole which is known to inhabit the low wetlands of eastern North America. They dig shallow surface tunnels and forage for insects, worms and molluscs. So there you have it -- proof that moles consider my yard "wetlands". That reminds me -- a few days ago, a toad jumped out of the way when I was clipping grass next to the bottom step of my deck. No wonder that I usually end up mowing wet grass.