Barbara Hart Radisavljevic
I suppose I’m not the first person to make a careless mistake. During my time gardening on our acreage in Templeton, I made a lulu. (If you are not a native English speaker, a lulu is an outstanding example of something very good or bad. This lulu was a very bad mistake.) This was in the days when I was trying to run a mail order book business fulltime and trying to keep up with my garden at the same time. To say I was over-extended doing everything myself would be an understatement. As a result, the gardening suffered. I made this mistake when a wild animal was becoming a nuisance. I don’t remember now which animal I suspected, but it may have been a skunk or opossum. The idea was to set a humane trap in the area the animal was frequenting, trap the animal, and then call the animal control department to have someone take it away. I put the trap out and baited it, but the animal never seemed to be interested in entering it. I got busy, and I forgot to put it away. It remained outside as I remained busy inside. I forgot about it for several months as the weeds grew up around it so that I didn’t notice it when I was outside. Then came the fateful day I was out getting ready to pull weeds in that area. If you are a gardener, you know how fast some weeds can grow and what long roots some of them can have. The coyote brush is a good example of such a weed. If you follow the link you will see the actual length of the roots of even young coyote brush plants. So you can imagine my dilemma when I discovered what you see in the photo above. The trap was trapped. A coyote brush plant had sprouted under it and grown up right through the wire grids in the bottom and up through the top. This is not what I had hoped to catch. I finally found someone who was able to free the trap for me so I could move it, but I never was able to get the door open.
Below is a recent photo of a clump of coyote brush near the border of our Templeton property. As you can see, the coyote brush is higher than the fence. You can also see we have a great view of the vineyards across the street.
What mistake has caused you a lot of trouble you might have easily prevented?
The trapped trap. Catchy title! Love it. Great post too, and I learned something new. I have always wondered what the name of that bush was. Now I know. : D
I have written much more about that plant on HubPages. I battle it all the time.
A trapped trap tickles my fancy
I was hoping that title would arouse curiosity. Usually traps aren’t trapped.
I liked it in that “He who lives by the sword…” kinda way
Life happens to all of us. Don’t be hard on yourself. It will all work out.
I have forgotten to fill up the bird bath on many hot days, among other things.
At last a birdbath is easy to fill again when you remember. Animal traps are expensive to replace if they no longer work.
Love this! You never did know what was in you garden? I love you view!
Since we moved into the city, I don’t see that view as often anymore. I rather miss it sometimes.
Now, you’ll just have to trap something else.
I don’t think so. I’d have to be able to open the door again first.,
Thank you. I’m assuming you are referring to the last photo, not the trap.