A NEW RAISON D'ETRE?

Remember when John and I first spotted this little fellow? Remember how we even thought he was kinda cute?  Well, he's not so cute anymore.  In fact, he's about to become my hubby's arch enemy.  His nemesis.  His Moriarity!

John just loves planting new stuff -- especially now that he's semi-retired and has more time -- so we ended up dividing the property into "His" and "Hers" spaces.  Well, it seems that our devilish little 'dillo and his compadres have made themselves at home in His space.  In fact, they seem to have made it their mission to upturn every square inch of soil in John's territory, unearthing many a new plant in the process.  The beds look like a war zone, covered in hundreds of new divots, and it's making my hubby a wee bit crazy.

Yesterday, after inspecting the latest damage, he came storming into the house, muttering and grumbling, and headed straight for my computer back in the bedroom.  He was in there so long, I forgot all about it, and had no idea what he was referring to when he came out with a stricken look on his face, to tell me that he had some bad news.  Expecting to hear that someone had died, or that we'd lost our retirement savings, I just burst out laughing when he told me instead that he had been doing some research on how to trap an armadillo.  "It's not funny!" he declared.  "There's not a darn thing that will lure an armadillo into a cage.  You have to herd them in!"  That made me laugh even harder, and say "Good luck with that!"  I reminded him that, though I did manage to slowly herd him out of that first bed, inch by inch, by squirting him with a strong jet of water, the second time I tried it, he just stood up on his hind legs and began trying to catch the jet in his mouth and drink it!

John did not appreciate my humor, and I suddenly caught a glimpse of the future that was so clear, it was as if I was peering into a crystal ball.  "Oh my gosh!  You're turning into Elmer Fudd," I told him, "and that silly armadillo is going to be your Bugs Bunny for the next twenty years!"  Ah, well.  I guess a guy's gotta have a reason to get outta bed each morning, huh?