Groundhogs

My neices and I were recipients of an amazing lesson in animal behavior over the weekend. Not quite as good as being on the African Plain witnessing a chimpanzee 'fish' for termites using sticks, but material (or tool) use nontheless. As I was strolling through the house on Saturday morning (a gray and drizzly day), I walked past the sliding glass doors in the family room and noticed a bright swatch of cobalt blue at the base of the shed. We have this small shed, with double doors and about a 6 inch space underneath where all manner of things have taken up residence. There is a small, half-moon shaped hole in one of the doors of the shed, which was where the bright blue was situated. I realized that the blue thing was actually a large tarp that had been folded on a shelf on the far side of the shed. But how did it get where it currently was? The tarp was now stuffed into the half-moon hole (Did my husband use the wadded up tarp to plug the hole?), extended out through the hole and then disappeared under the shed.....and it appeared to be moving. I got the girls and we sat at the sliding glass door and watched as a quite large groundhog appeared from under the shed. Apparently, this tarp was slowly being pulled from the shed, through the hole, and then under the shed. Irritated at his progress, he set about chewing the hole to make it larger, and then tugging with his teeth with all his might to pull more of the tarp through the hole. We watched this for over an hour, the groundhog going back and forth and pulling and chewing. I wonder what he had planned for this tarp? A windscreen? Insulation? Later that day, we checked on his progress. He seemed to have given up. We opened up the shed and noticed that the tarp had picked up two tomato cages somehow and they wedged up against the door, preventing the industrious little guy from pulling the tarp out any further. I was totally amazed.

Yesterday we went to see Wallace and Grommit, Curse of the WereRabbit. It was really good but I think I enjoyed it more that the girls did. At one point I was laughing so hard that I was crying. If you get the chance, check it out. Very funny and great garden puns.