Games

Next to the compost pile
a hole or burrow or tunnel.
What furry creature resides there?
Quite possibly there's a pair.

This something only comes out at night
after I've retired for bug bites
chase me inside early each night
after the sunset becomes twilight.

He eats to his heart's content
from the compost's content
fortunately not realizing
fresh vegetation grew in the garden.

My neighbor told me it was woodchuck.
It might have been a ground hog.  Just my luck.
I needed to come up with a plan quick
to scare off this varmint, to outwit.

This woodchuck
did not chuck
any wood
that I know of.

He did, however, chuck
many, many rocks
with his nose and head somehow
that were wedged in the burrow...

for every morning those rocks
were again up on top.
He had come to chow down
some time before dawn.

Last evening's parings
he thought were for sharing.
Content he was
with peach skin fuzz.

Rather a woodchuck or a ground hog, I do not know.
I do know I'm thankful he has left town, though.
Hopefully he became
tried of playing the game...

of my wedging rocks in the burrow
then his emptying the tunnel
with his nose,
I suppose.

Woodchucks
do not knock,
they tend to invite themselves.
Gardeners might cry 'help'...

for lettuce and peas
and corns and beans
are no longer seen
in rows of green.

Ground hogs
don't jog
but can be seen
in fields of green...

where into their tunnel
they quickly burrow
after eating
from gardens.

* * * * *

Oh the joys of gardening.
Everyday something needs tending.
Oh the joys of aging.
Everyday something's aching.

Dedicated gardeners won't let a few aches
keep them from their morning-to-evening date
with what's waiting out behind the garden gate
for every morning new surprises await.

Wonderment is found so don't be late
for everyday miracles await.
The miracle of food upon your plate.
Awe over the assortment God did create.

Amazement over delicate flower blooms.
Everyday a rainbow of new blooms perfume.
There's much in one's garden to see and admire.
To talk about, gardeners never seem to tire.

And tomorrow they will be back again
to finish yesterday's chores in the garden.
A gardener's work is never, ever done
rather the gardener be man or woman.

Here's some words of wisdom direct from Solomon.
I think he spent some time working under the sun.
Isn't that what gardener's do -
work under the sun after the dew,,,

has dried upon the grass
for there's always another task
that awaits.
Don't be late.

A man can do nothing better than to eat and drink
and find satisfaction in his work.
This too, I see, is from the hand of God,
for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?
To the man who pleases him,
God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness...
Ecclesiastes 2:24-26

I know that there is nothing better for men
than to be happy and do good while they live.
That everyone may eat and drink,
and find satisfaction in all his toil -
this is the gift of God.
Ecclesiastes 3:12-13

I realized that is good and proper for a man to eat and drink,
and to find satisfaction in his toilsome labor under the sun
during the few days of life God has given him -
for this is his lot.
Moreover, when God gives any man wealth and possessions,
and enables him to enjoy them,
to accept his lot and be happy in his work -
this is a gift of God.
Ecclesiastes 3:18-19

I commend the enjoyment of life,
because nothing is better for a man under the sun
than to eat and drink and be glad.
Then joy will accompany him in his work
all the days of the life God has given him under the sun.
Ecclesiastes 8:15