Sunday, May 25, 2008
We have been mowing the field in front of the house (east side - across the driveway). Since it has never really been maintained as a 'lawn' before it's not exactly a smooth ride on the lawn mower so we're going to grade it this fall (or next spring) so the ride will not be as bumpy.
We've pretty much gotten all of the rocks out of the way so the blades on the mower are not at risk in that respect. Besides the unevenness of the ground one other problem we have encountered is gophers.
Last year at the Palouse Fair Grounds we saw a demonstration of a device that blows the little critters right out of the hole. It involves the use of a mixture of propane, oxygen and a spark. We watched the tape a couple of times and it seemed like an excellent way to get rid of the varmints. Expensive though.
So, we (Roger really) thought we (he) would make his own gopher blaster and get rid of the critters himself. Patrick being a science teacher was excited about the experiment and came out for the day to help with the explosions.
The makeshift system didn't work as planned. There was no 'explosion'. The system did, however, generate a lot of heat. So much heat in fact that the grass above the burrows ignited. It was interesting to watch the fire travel across the grass. One never knew just which way it would move and many hasty relocation's of the propane tank occurred during the process. I think the guys had fun though.
This morning Roger went out to spray some weeds. The gopher mounds are back. We've learned that the burrows can go as deep as 6 feet. I'm not sure the flames went that far. It looks like we are going to have a serious battle on our hands. Looks like we need a plan B.
