I want to express my sincere appreciation to all those who responded to my plea for help in ridding my yard of a troublesome armadillo.

It appears the armor-clad animal apparently took me for my word when I told him (or her) I was trying to keep from sending him to the great armadillo home in the sky when I attempted to catch him.

For the last several days, he has not made his presence known around my house. Since he had completely destroyed just about every inch of my wife Peggy’s flower beds, maybe he thought he had found all the grubs available and moved on to a more productive foraging area.

As I look back now, I have to agree my attempts to catch and cage the critter were humorous if not down right funny.

I’m not sure what sounds an armadillo makes, but he could have been laughing at me when I thought I heard him snort when he ran through the dip net I used to momentarily slow him down.

For the record, the most popular suggestion I received from friends had to do with the use of a shotgun. The second most popular suggestion was the use of bubble-gum. The third was to trap him using sardines for bait.

Even though I am fully aware that shooting a gun within the city limits is against the law, the look I got from Peggy when she saw the damage to her flowers got me to wondering where I put those old shotgun shells.

I didn’t too much like the idea of placing sardines in a trap due to the smell I am sure would have floated on the air throughout my neighborhood but I thought the idea of the bubblegum was worth a shot (so to speak).

As I understand the technique, you purchase a certain type bubblegum, unwrap it and drop the gum on the ground in the area where the armadillo frequents. Apparently an armadillo has a difficult time digesting the bubble-making material.

After all the ribbing I took from my friends about my armadillo-catching success, I was ready to put the bubblegum theory to the test.

But, it appears the armadillo won after all by leaving my yard just about the time I was going to prove I could outsmart him.