Today Thurmon and I did battle with a groundhog!
I'm sure it's the same groundhog who's feasted from our garden before, and now he's back, after leaving us in peace for several weeks. When Thurmon caught sight of him he lunged for the garden, being stopped by the fence (a loose fence of deer netting draped on bamboo - my aim with the groundhog has been frustration rather than hard-core obstruction). The groundhog frantically tried to find a way out of the netting, getting caught at times, but not finding his exit. So I decided to open up the entry and let Thurmon in. Thurmon surged forward, then stopped, and sniffed the groundhog. And after a few seconds of sniffing, the groundhog, having no exit, decided to make the best of it, and started munching on the kale again.
At this point I started thwacking the groundhog's flank with a bamboo pole, but it wouldn't budge. So I took Thurmon inside and went back out with the garden hose. I hosed the groundhog with a hard spray, which he tried his best to avoid, but I couldn't seem to get him to aim in the direction of the exit. So I went inside too for a few minutes, to give the groundhog time to retreat.
Then Thurmon and I came back out. The groundhog was gone, and Thurmon sniffed about eagerly for any sign of him.
On a less dramatic note, we walked Thurmon up into the subway station this morning - he handled the stairs well, and had a chance to sniff around. Next step will be taking him on the train. In the meantime I'll try to take him down there to wait for Mark a few times when he's coming home, so that it becomes a place of happy associations. There's nothing more fun than Thurmon realizing that the person walking towards him has turned out to be his owner.
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