Mole Madness

To the Editor:

We’ve gone through March Madness, now we have mole madness.

Nobody loves northeast Iowa more than I do, especially the town of Lansing. That said, I haven’t been able to accept our overly friendly neighborhood moles.

Someone said to me last fall, “At least they are aerating the soil.” Okay fine, I get that there has to be some reason for their existence. However, what about these ankle injuries as a result of sinking into their excavations?

I thought the herd of neighborhood deer might help stomp them out, but they must have some sort of mutual understanding with the moles. Perhaps they are all just waiting to share whatever flowers made it through the winter with the deer taking the tops and agreeing to leave the bottoms for the moles.

I have heard of sticking Juicy Fruit gum (and only Juicy Fruit) into their trails so they will blow up when they eat it. Hmmmm …. really? Is there that much Juicy Fruit gum in the world?

Another recommendation is to flood their tracks with water. With the price of water in Lansing, that’s not happening. Speaking of costly solutions, I did buy an expensive trap that my husband promptly ran over with a mower.

Catfish Annie to moles, “I am not giving up, you vicious little varmints.” This may be an all-out war, and if I have to I will be packing Juicy Fruit gum into the trenches.
Wish me luck.

“Catfish Annie”
Ann Gallagher
Lansing