I Smell A Rat

A couple of weeks ago I went to open the curtains and blinds in the dining room as I do every morning and noticed that there was a dead rodent on the front porch. Unfortunately we have become accustomed to seeing dead animals on the porch ever since our 1 year old Siamese cat, Remy, discovered that he is quite the hunter. Generally he brings us bunnies which is always very hard for me to handle and several times I have tried to rescue them but my efforts are always pointless and the bunny dies. I even have the number for the Dallas Wildlife Rescue Center hanging on my refridgerator and have called at least 5 times this summer to see if they could take an injured animal off of my hands. I was successful at bringing them a tiny bunny that still had it's eyes closed and hopefully that little guy survived. Anyway, on this particular morning it appeared that Remy had brought us a mouse. I normally leave the picking up of dead animals to Bill but since it was 8:30 on a Wednesday and I was hosting playgroup that morning I knew I needed to take care of this little problem myself. So I armed myself with many papertowels and a shopping bag and went out on the porch. My next door neighbor, Larrah, was outside with her kids and made a comment about Remy bringing us a "gift." I was chatting with her and not really paying much attention to what I was doing and when I looked down at the rodent I noticed it had a very long, thick tail. Definitely not a mouse! I yelled to Larrah "This is a rat! We have rats!!???" She said we did and proceeded to tell me several instances of rat encounters that either she or other neighbors have had. Fabulous! Later that morning during playgroup I mentioned to some of the other moms my rat situation from earlier that morning and they too told me their rat stories. Apparently they live near the creek right by our house. I guess we haven't seen them b/c we have 2 cats that are often outside. I think this was the first time that I was not overly sad with the "gift" that Remy brought us. Now I am always on the lookout for rats!