There's A Monster In Our Yard!

There's a monster that comes out after dark in our yard.  Each day we see where the monster has dug more holes in the yard and ran crazy through our flower beds.  We can no longer see beautiful mulch! It looks like we hoed around what flowers the desperate deer have not munched to the ground in this year of the drought.


Scare him and he'll jump straight up in the air, due to poor vision



Time was one only saw these monsters in Texas, but they are slowly creeping north. Yes, it is the Armadillo, derived from the Spanish term, "little armored one." Nine bands cover the body, a hard shield protects the face, even their tails are covered in rings. Only the belly is soft, their legs and claws are very strong to help dig for dinner.  They can weigh from two to twenty pounds and eat up to 200 pounds of insects in a year.  They do not fair well in cold, maybe we will have an early winter since we had an early spring?  Wishful thinking on my part.

An interesting fact from history - President Herbert Hoover promised a chicken in every pot.  However, this did not pan out and many took to cooking armadillos, nick-named "Hoover Hogs."