While of course Hamlet was talking about his step-dad, the King, and not a real rat (moral: always look before you stab - poor, poor Polonius!), I am talking about the genuine article ~ the real deal ~ the four footed, furry, non-friendly, stinky squirrel-without-the-furry-tail-nor-cute-face kind of rat. Lots of them. A whole stinking family: cousins, brothers, sisters, aunts, moms, dads, uncles, the works. They've all moved into our home. (Or maybe it is only 2 or 3, and they move around so much, we think there are more than there are.)
But, however many are here, I'm putting them on notice now: My name is Linda Muller Berg. You ate my napkins and pooped in my shirt drawer. Prepare to die. (Yes, that reference to Princess Bride was on purpose.)
One of my "transition goals" which I hope to accomplish before we move home to Texas (temporarily) is this: to annihilate every rodent that has taken up residence in our..... residence.
I'd like the next human inhabitants of our home, whoever they may be, to not have to contend with opening clothes drawers and finding furry friends inside, or with opening a kitchen drawer and finding a running rodent ripping up our few paper napkins for her nest, or to feel a wiggling under the couch cover where one is SITTING, and realize it is yet another rat, trying to escape being discovered.
I have HAD IT WITH THESE long tailed, disease carrying, disgusting things! (Sorry, Virginia Kerr Young, but they really are disgusting!)
This is war. All out war. For the benefit of whomever moves into our lovely home in a couple months, we are pulling out all the stops to find every one of these creatures and ending their lives, one by one.
We have a new cat, with a new job, and Simeon is good with his feet stomping skills, too. Zach and Sam love to get off school to chase down and grab the little boogers, so maybe we will make headway.
Ewwwwwwww. Today, we found and exterminated one. Here is our proof. One down, 999 to go. Okay, maybe only 3. But it feels like 999. Ewwwwwwww. That's all I have left to say. EWWWWW!
Below is the play-by-play of our rat catching activity today.
1. Sam opened drawer to get out napkins and saw a RAT. Eww!
2. Rat jumped out of drawer and ran to the pantry.
3. Sam, Zach and Simeon all ran into pantry after the RAT, and all sorts of screaming, laughing and knocking around noises started emanating from said pantry. I tried to come in, but girls weren't allowed.
4. Suddenly, I hear, "I got it, I got it!" Then I heard a loud thud, followed by, "Oh GROSS, blood is coming from its nose and ears!" Simeon, Sam and Zach were all howling with laughter at this point. So glad PETA doesn't have an office in Kibogora.
The younger boys weren't allowed to enter either, but here is a picture of their excitement just outside the kitchen while the older men-boys were doing the hunting.
I lost the desire to enter the pantry at this point. But I did force open the door for a quick picture, taken only moments before the rat was caught.
5. Zach and Sam decided to feed the now-deceased rat to our mama cat, in hopes of cultivating a "taste" for RAT within her. I guess it worked, because she was so happy!
And she was so proud of herself, as if she had been responsible for the kill. Ha! Lazy cat!
So, that was our day.
How was yours??
I know the excitement of that chase. I had a greenhouse with a metal cabinet to store pesticides, insecticides and fertilizer. The rats invaded while we were away on vacation in the wintertime, they ate all the plants and lived in the metal cabinet. Don't ask, I don't know how they got in or out. While my 10 and 14 year grandsons were there my husband decided to move the cabinet to the nearby coulee, yes we were in Louisiana. He taped it closed with duct tape, loaded it into the garden cart and the entourage headed to the coulee, about 200 ft away. The doors came open, rats went everywhere but the boys grabbed a broom and a stick and whacked away yelling "Rat hockey, rat Hockey." I don't know if they got one, but they really had fun.
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