I can't remember a more beautiful fall week than the one that's just passed . . . the community gardens, in the park next door, were plowed under on Monday morning, so each morning after that I took Steve vole hunting.
The weather has been dry since the beginning of September so the gardens are not muddy and it's easy for me to walk through.
Steve checks along all the posts first and that's where he found his first vole this week.
Steve tracked it for half an hour, back and forth, before it took refuge in a hole by this post. He eventually dug it out.
How he finds, tracks and catches voles in all the leaves, tall grass and weeds is amazing.
On Friday, Steve discovered a hidden vole passage and tried to follow it to its end. When I determined the passage continued to the middle of the earth, I steered him away from the hole he dug . . . he tracked down a large pile of pretzels.
Steve ate so many pretzels that, even though he chased down and killed the the next vole that made a break for it, he left it there uneaten. In total, he killed 6 voles this week which brings his yearly total to 46.
This morning was cloudy, but we found that a portion of the park, which had been too wet to mow until now, has finally been cut. The tall grass, which is laying loosely across the stems, looks like a perfect place to find more voles once we have a little snow!
We have one more day of above average temperatures before a low pressure front comes through bringing rain and cooler temps. Besides hunting with Steve this week, I've managed to finish winter preparations.
