Boys, Bug Jars & Barnyard Badgers

We seem to have a healthy grasshopper population this summer. When you walk thru the sagebrush and dried grass, the ground seems to move under your feet. In all sizes, the grasshoppers scurry to stay ahead of your shoes. They seem to come in a variety of color schemes too. Some neon yellow, others with sky blue or vibrant red legs, while the majority are simply camoflauge against their surroundings. The local barnyard fowl do a fairly well job patrolling the vicinity around the yard. The occasional hopper does slip by them, appearing on an inside wall of the house.

The resident little cowboys love bugs of all kinds. They come running towards us, clutching their newest caught treasure in both hands. A “Bug Jar” is to the benefit of both parties. We have a couple select sizes of peanut butter jars, sitting ready by the door. These special jars are void of labels to enlarge the viewing area. The lids are spotted with carefully drilled air holes. Once the captured insect is safely contained, the boys quickly gather grass to enhance the jar’s habitat. The little cowboys are so excited about their new found friends. They proudly show them off. Come evening, the bugs are reintroduced to the wild, meaning the mom secretly dumps the jar’s contents out on the lawn. On more than one occasion, the little cowboys have lamented their distress at the loss of their “friends”. I’m not sure what is the correct way to try to explain to a tired 2 year old boy that we may not be able to find his exact same bug friend again.

Living in the desert comes with a strange variety of neighbors. Some more welcome than others. One on the less than friendly list, are the badger community. They represent the miniature grizzly bear association of sagebrush habitat. No other desert creature messes with them, thus upping their danger level another notch. I’ve been told badgers will even eat rattlesnakes. For the most part, we rarely see them. Only the remnants of their latest digging accomplishments in search of an unsuspecting lunch prospect. Most of a badger’s activity is done at night, catching their prey by surprise. When the local ground squirrels are active, the badgers promptly move through each series of squirrel towns. Leaving big holes in their wake, they help control the ground squirrels’ overpopulation. Around the first part of July, these squirrels pack it up & hibernate until early next spring. This leaves the badger to move on to the next easiest meal.

Recently, an overachieving badger, decided to move to the outskirts of our barnyard. We had spotted his holes in the sheep’s pasture, feedlot, etc. Rooster, our bigger than life Jack Russell terrier, had made several attempts to locate him to no avail. I dread the day Rooster finds a badger on his own. I’m afraid a rushed trip to the nearest veterinary office will soon follow. One morning while doing chores, Rooster sounded the alarm. Upon closer inspection, we found him completely tunneled down a fresh badger hole. Mr. Badger had decided barn kittens were next on his culinary menu. He had been busy all night digging several holes around the barn, trying to locate one. Thankfully the kittens had taken shelter in a nearby hole, tucked in the concrete foundation. Rooster was digging as fast as he could in hot pursuit of the badger. Nate quickly stuck his arm down the hole, barely grasping Rooster’s short tail, pulling him back to the surface. After a brief shovel digging episode, we enrolled the help of a garden hose full of water. Sure enough, badgers don’t like water. Mr. Badger surfaced, acknowledging he was outsmarted. We were able to restrain Rooster until the Badger was gone from site. Thankfully neither dog or kittens were on the lunch menu that day. Rooster has a little skip in his step now, in his mind he defeated the ultimate desert predator. Hopefully it will be a long while before his next encounter with a tougher than nails badger.