Good idea danger,.....I remember many years ago a guy out on Sand Mountain had groundhog problems in his pasture. For those of you that aren't familiar with a 'groundhog'....that's southern for woodchuck. Back then gas was about 25 cents a gallon so it was no concern at all. We took some gas, waterhose, funnels and shovels out to this guy's pasture on a groundhog removal mission.
There were several holes out in his pasture the groudhogs had made, so we took a length of waterhose with a funnel on the end, ran it down the hole and poured in some gas, did this to every hole. I was elected to be the light it off man, so I ran me a line of gas out from a hole as a wick, covered the hole behind me with a round pointed shovel so as not to blister my rear if the flame shot out that hole. I lit a match and tossed it toward my wick of gas......now one often forgets just how fast gas will burn on top of the ground,....WHOOOOOOOSH.
There was about a nano-second delay then the Earth shook and a great BLOOOOOOOMMMM could be heard across most of that part of the mountain. Large flames shot about 8 feet out of every hole in that area......we were kinda stunned and addled. I was just standing there in awe of the spectacle of it all......then I hear this faint sound,.....swooooop, swooop, swoop,...SWOOP, SWOOP, SWOOP.....I can't quite make out what it is and then as I'm turning to get a better fix on where it's coming from, cause it's getting louder by the second.....I see that the shovel I'd put over that hole behind me is missing. Thank the Lord that he gave us the best computer/calculator right between our ears and mine is telling me that I need to run and not be long about it.....but where to? I'm afraid to look up and have this shovel split my head wide open.....so....eventually my legs take over and I light out and hope for the best....I make it about 10 feet or so and the shovel hits the ground near where it left from.....We kinda stand around dumb-founded looking at everyone to see if they're on fire or anything......all is well and we are very happy to be in one piece after that little episode. We later learn that the farmer has no more issues with groundhogs and is happy as a dead pig in the sunshine with the job we did......and that was my last job as a groundhog removal expert.....
