randomtuesday
Keely over at The Un-Mom hosts this fun weekly Random Tuesday thing, and if you haven’t jumped on that band wagon, run faster and jump higher – you don’t want to miss out!
That’s a vole. We have voles. I thought they were moles, but my aunt corrected me on that assumption because she has voles, too. I couldn’t figure out why the plants and flowers in the flower bed I have around our brick patio were slowly disappearing – I assumed that maybe the wild rabbits were having a feast. But then I saw the holes – the first one I noticed last year and wondered if it had a snake hiding in it, so I covered that hole promptly and steered clear of that area for a while. But then this year, holes are starting to pop up everywhere in the flower beds. And my plants are disappearing. Voles like to eat the succulent roots, and since they’re hiding under ground, they don’t get caught red handed. Well, unless they decide to run right in front of you when you’re weeding said flower bed.

So I’m going on a vole hunt. Tune in next week to find out who won. If one of the voles is typing my Random Tuesday Thoughts next week, we may all be in trouble. I’m just sayin’.

Sunday night I was reading one of my favorite blogs, Frogs in My Formula, when she happened to post a hilarious post here. If you haven’t read it yet, you really need to. I was laughing out loud as I read it, so of course I had to read it to my hubby. And show him the horse picture at the end of the post. Remember he’s afraid of horses, so he didn’t take too kindly to being shown a picture of one. He shuddered. Which should give Frogs confidence that her horse picture truly is awesome. Princess Nagger even liked the picture, and it prompted this dialogue:

PN: “Nice horse. I draw turtles.”

Me: “Oh, you draw turtles?”

PN: “Yes, whenever I try to draw a horse, it turns into a turtle.”

Princess Nagger went to her first non-family or close friend birthday party on Sunday – the little girl is in her kindergarten class and invited all the girls from the class. The theme was a ‘princess’ theme, so the girls were to wear their favorite ‘Princess Dress’ to the party. Princess Nagger got a dress-up trunk for Christmas, which has some Princess Dresses in it, so I figured one of those would be sufficient. I felt bad when I dropped her off, though, seeing all the other little girls in the fanciest, most phenomenal princess dresses I’ve ever seen – it made the Princess Nagger look like she was Cinderella going to the ball in her rags…but she didn’t care, and that’s what really mattered.
Princess Nagger decided it was the perfect time Sunday afternoon to bring her old Barbie tricycle out and ride it up and down our gravel driveway…in her Princess dress…she was really good at avoiding getting her picture taken, but I did manage to capture one decent one… Ignore the growing dirt pile in the background – the neighbors are up to something, possibly going to finally take care of the strip of land that separates our driveways that has been a mass of weeds every year…here’s hoping the eyesore will be gone this year! 🙂

Feeling Random? Well, you’re not alone. You can find all the cool Random People congregating over at Keely’s place. Her co-host is back with a passion – Kelly the Neurotic Mom at her new home, Baby Boogers. Head on over to both places and spread some Random love. You’ll thank me later. 😉

UPDATE: Several people have asked what the difference between a Vole and a Mole are…

Voles are rodents in the mouse family. They can do a great deal of damage to orchards, row crops and landscaping in a short period of time. Vole burrow openings will have all of the grass at the edge closely cropped and there will not be any apparent soil mounding. In my flower beds they’re leaving just holes, no mounding of the dirt at all. And because they like to eat roots, the plants and bulbs I have planted are slowly disappearing – because they’re having a feast. They don’t hibernate, so they’ve been enjoying themselves all winter long.

Moles eat up to 1-1/2 times their body weight in a day. They mac out on beetles and bugs and earth worms. When they tunnel, they’ll leave behind piles of dirt that can get up to 2 feet tall.

Luckily we don’t have moles as they do greater damage to the yard itself, and it seems the voles are only interested in my flower beds – they haven’t attacked my grape vines and baby cherry trees as of yet…maybe because I planted so many yummy things for them to feast on in my flower beds last year – I need to get rid of them before they spread out and conquer all the other stuff I planted last year!

Vole:

Mole:

So like Yaya said – Mole=ugly Vole=CUTE! 😉

Thus concludes the educational portion of Random Tuesday Thoughts…thanks for stopping by! 😉


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54 Comments

  1. im sure if princess nagger had noticed, you’d still be hearing about it!!!!

  2. I think we have moles, but maybe they are voles? holes everywhere, orrrr it’s skunks digging in for bugs? many many holes. I feel like my lawn is the green from Caddy Shack!

  3. I’ve got the rabbits. Oh, and the dog who was bread to sniff them out and torment their babies.

    Princess N seems to have had a pretty good day. I’m with her.

  4. Sprite’s dress up clothes are becoming more abundant thanks to Target Dollar Spot. They kind of look like rags to me with some lace attached, but Sprite thinks they’re “beautiful!” It’s all in the eyes of the wearer, right?
    Great Randomness!

  5. I’ve never heard of a vole! I have seen the rabbits steal the tops off my flowers and run run run!

  6. Wow, have never heard of a vole! What state do you live in? We caught a possum once that was living under our shed ~ not cute at all!

    Trying out RTT & will try to get the concept right next week!

  7. That mouse looking thing is so gross. I would not like to see them. Great pictures. Have a wonderful Tuesday.

  8. The voles are so cute. Then I saw the mole…eek. That thing would terrify me if I found him mucking about in my yard. They don’t even look related except for their rhyming names. I hate when my horses turn in to turtles. 😉

  9. Is there some sort of huge vole epidemic that I’m unaware of? Seems many a bloggers are speaking of these little vermin. To my knowledge I have no voles, I did have to evict a couple mama mice and their little from my shed a couple weeks ago…but I’m sure they moved right back in after I left.

    Happy RTT!

  10. I think your princess looks fabulous. And she certainly didn’t let the princess costume slow her down.

    I don’t think I would like to have voles or moles, they both don’t belong in my yard. I should definitely live in the big city.

  11. Here I thought you were showing us a picture of your new pet. He sure is adorable.

    I would love to read his version of the Vole hunt next week.

    Good luck!

  12. Where we used to live, our neighbor had a huge garden and that’s where I first saw a vole. Had no idea there was such a thing!! They are adorable…everyone needs a vole! 😉
    carma

  13. The only sure-fire way I’ve ever been able to eradicate voles is to get cats. Nice, mousey-type catching cats with mean claws and teeth.

    The voles will very quickly relocate to your cat-free neighbors’ houses.

  14. We used to have moles rather than voles. There are awesome medieval traps that you can buy to kill moles. They are like a spikey guillotine. I don’t know what you do about voles.

  15. Voles are totally cuter. Which almost makes you want to forgive them for doing such crazy damage to your yard. Almost.

  16. I agree with Yaya. Such a pretty dress, don’t want to get it dirty – I guess that is what spray-n-wash is for.

  17. Now I think you’re just making up rodents to mess with me. PN looks adorable/hilarious riding her bike with her princess dress on. Ha!

  18. I am having an issue with a squirrel. He is totally cute and sweetly fat, but he is destroying my patio furniture. The squirrel is winning!

    The voles are cute…but I understand the frustration!

  19. Cute or not, they are not fun to have in the yard. Hubby went nuts last year getting them out of ours (Reminded me of Bill Murray in Caddy Shack)

  20. Ugh I dont like either one of them! Although I would take the Vole over the Mole if I had a choice. I dont like rodents, actually, I’m scared of them. Good luck with that little problem!

  21. Yes, voles are cute and moles are pretty gross. Voles are causing you alot of grief. Good luck with the hunt.

  22. Wow I never heard of them. Please be nice to it may be you can but mothballs in your garden.

  23. We are having a princess party in two weeks for my daughter’s 3rd birthday, I can’t WAIT!

    And, bye the way, she has the same Barbie bike!

  24. She looked CUTE no matter what! and good luck with the vole/mole rodent thing. I dislike them!

  25. It must be a vole cause I think I’d notice somtehing that ugly!!! the mouse size critter is a bit more stealthy?

  26. Cute little bugger, I have to admit. Meaning the vole.

    Your little one is adorable in her princess garb. Did you ever read “The Paper bag princess”? I remember it was a fave with the kiddies when I taught pre-k long ago.

  27. Oh my goodness, moles are ugly. We use to have those at our old house.

    Sometimes people get a little nutty about little kids parties. Your little bit here reminded me of an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond. Ally was invited to a party and the girls had to wear a dress that was about 200 bucks. Crazy!

    Happy RTT!

  28. First.. the Vole is much cuter than the Mole.. since I don’t have Voles here( If we do I don’t know about the.. we do have shrews)

    Second.. I think Princess Nagger looked lovely and happy!

    Jan:)

  29. Voles, and Moles, in holes.

    I’m glad I don’t have a girl because I’d send her to a party like that as the Paper Bag Princess.

  30. I feel so ed-u-ma-cated now. Thanks Stacy. I will go forward in life with my vole knowledge and try to share it with the world.

    (I swear I learn everything I need to from the Internet!)

    -Francesca

  31. Love the Princess riding her bicycle!
    And the vole is cute … until I see one near my own house. Then it is not so cute. Good luck … and now I’m wondering about the mysterious holes in MY yard….

  32. Ok so now I can’t get that tune of “goin’ on a bare hunt” out of my head except I’m singing “goin’ on a vole hunt!

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