For two mornings, I went to check whether the groundhog was trapped. Pieces of apple were wrinkling, so did my hope to catch start to fade, for I did not see any signs of groundhog’s movement in the backyard for last two days. Saturdays and Sundays are one of the busiest days for me and my family. As a newly formed church, we have lot of responsibilities and a pastoral team was also working on bylaws and constitution at the same time. Meantime, I did not go once to check the trap for last two days.

As Monday morning began as usual with pancake and scramble egg breakfast for my kids, my oldest son inquired about the groundhog. Dad and son’s conversation went like this:
Son: Dad, did you check the trap again? That “nasty creature” (supposedly critter) should be dead by now. It will not eat our vegetables again.
Dad: No, I have not, hon. How did you know that it must be dead?
Son: I think I did not see it now.
Dad: Me too. Let me go and check.
Son: Dad, can I come see with you?
Dad: Sure!

Yes, there it was trapped in the trap cage and it seemed to me that the “nasty creature” had been in the trap for more than a day. We had rain all night the previous day. And that might have weakened it faster. I went closer and noticed that it had little life in it. It is illegal to relocate critters in Grand Rapids, Michigan. That forced me to call critters control agencies and the charge they told me to get rid of it was unbelievable. It was around $1000. Did I hear something wrong? Could be if I heard it once and had no voice mail but I had it in my voice message inbox. By the time, I heard from the agencies, the uninvited guest in the backyard garden took its last breath and died in the trap. Eventually, many frustrating hours of waiting for it to see inside the trap was paid off! I did not want the story of my enmity with the groundhog to be ended like this. Instead, I wanted it to be taken away by those agencies and do what they fit good for it. RIP you little “nasty creature”!