Wind Powered Critter Controle

 

I was at Harbor Freight to get a set of Allen Wrenches the other week and as always I went straight back to the garden section to see if they had anything I might be interested in. Lo and behold there was something I was VERY interested in. A wind powered "Mole Chaser". I bought only one because sometimes things are not as wonderful as the box claims it is
and I wanted it, not for it's intended purpose, but to scare my garden nemesis, the vole. So I wanted to see if it worked on voles before I bought more of them. If it worked I wanted 10 of them.

Since it has hardly stopped raining in months here at the Homestead, I just resigned myself to getting soaked and went straight out to the garden to assemble my new contraption.

 

It seemed innocent enough as I opened the box. A dozen metal parts to assemble, but then I started noticing a trend in the labels.

It's good I don't have small children around because if I did I would definitely put this in their crib,

How fast does this thing spin? Should I worry about losing my nose? Will it put out my eye?

Why didn't it warn me about electrocution? Oh wait. it did.

If moles invade my attic, can this tool help me?

Oh, I guess so.  But I am not qualified to put it up on the roof myself. I must hire a professional.

 

The only object I have ever seen that had more ridiculous warning labels on it, was a ladder.

The one thing it didn't warn me about was lightning, and considering the weather, maybe it should have.
Now that I have it put together, I have no idea what it does that is supposed to scare a mole. The picture on the box shows little lines going into the ground, while a cartoon mole appears to float in space, but one assumes it is burrowing away in fear for it's life. A burrow is apparently too hard to draw. I must conclude those scary lines are the symbol for sound.

 

The "ruckus" that the Mole Chaser is supposed to make is a mystery to me. The only thing the "Mole Chaser" has that makes any noise at all is, what sounds like, a loose BB in the barrel that the blades and directional fin fasten to. Your guess is as good as mine.

The scale of the blades compared to it's height, (nothing like the illustration) makes me wonder if it is actually a "mole chopper".

 

The weird thing is that it seems to be working. I have had it in my potato bed for a couple weeks and so far there is very little damage. The true test will be when I dig potatoes though. Voles are very good at covert pillaging.

Well, whatever the scary thing is about this gizmo, I hope it is scary enough to keep the voles at bay. That would make me happy. I'm tired of pulling hollow beets out of my garden.

I'll just make sure not to weed that bed on a windy day or I could suddenly have more in common with Picasso than the fact that I am a painter.