No not really a friend. I now know why my backyard is a lumpy mess. Far Side of Fifty gave our family some really serious discussion about this creature. I had to search forever to finally find a picture of it.
Some of you already know this but I only saw them in Minnesota. It is a thirteen lined ground squirrel. I have owned my property for thirty two years and this is the first time I have ever seen one in my yard ever.
I ran across an Iowan garden web blog while searching for answers and we Iowans are dumb. I thought it was a Minnesota gopher, dumb huh? It looked like some of the cartoon characters that they use for that. . The thread never figured it out. I think the web is too old for me to tell them what it is. They were trying to call them squinny squirrels as I have yet to find a photo on the net for that either.
Anyway, I have a mess in my yard and I don't kill animals unless it is a mouse in my house. I will take a deep breath now, since I finally found the answer. I was thinking I needed to till the entire back yard and replant as bad as it was looking. I was blaming my border collie for the turf problem.
If you don't know me very well, I am always willing to admit my ignorance and I love to learn. This new revelation will give me a big problem to solve. Thanks for reading...
Oh yes, thanks Far Side for your input. You are a good friend to have.
Thanks to Erin for having me change it from twelve to thirteen. I now know why I need to be checked into a nursing home.
2 comments:
I can't believe you've never seen these! We used to have so many in our backyard growing up that my dad tried everything - pouring water down the holes, etc., which I don't agree with, because I'm an animal lover!
I've never heard of a twelve-lined, but thirteen.
Great post..up here we just lump them all together and call them Chipmunks..or chippies. Our Border Collie chases them up trees..they are sometimes destructive buggers..Blue Herons eat them:)
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