Year of the Rat Continues

Since my last post on the four mice killed on my watch, the Rat King has been fairly quiet during his year of reign. No droppings, no nibbles - only empty traps to leave me wondering if mice will eat peanut butter that has been out (on the traps as bait) for weeks.

Because I live by myself and only eat lunch in this house, I don't have to take out the trash very often. Today just happened to be the day when I decided to empty the trash; lo and behold, TWO FRESH MICE, dead on the traps behind the trash can. Rigamortis had yet to set in and there was no smell (it's amazing how such a little animal can produce such a big stench when rotting under your sink), so I knew the mini massacre had just happened hours, if not moments, before the discovery. Some points of interest:

1. Next time I will have invested in a pair of tongs or one of those long-reaching trash pinchers so I don't have to put my hands so close to their dead bodies (just in case they decide they're not done living and have to bite one last thing - a.k.a. my hand - before they really cross over).
2. I read that the Black Death/Bubonic Plague has reared its ugly head again - I furiously washed my hands before, during, and after the disposal, even though I was using two disposable bowls to scoop up the trap and victim (therefore, never actually touching the possible contamination site).
3. Peanut butter does not go bad as far as mice are concerned. Unless their eyes deceived them and their last meal was terribly stale.
4. I did not cry this time. Guess I'm toughening up.

Yesterday: Happy Year of the Rat

A lot of good things are going to happen in 2008: marriage, summer olympics, cheaper car rentals...

I'm surprised that 2008 promises bring so many wonderful things, considering it's the Year of the Rat, member of the disgusting and terrifying rodent family. No wonder my year started off by catching FOUR mice in the cottage in less than a week. Their leader Mr. Rat was calling them to do his evil deeds.

But the Chinese apparently don't think so poorly of rats. If they had seen the rat traps at the hardware store when I bought the useful mousetraps, they might join me in being scared of all things rodent. Without careful handling, mouse traps can bruise your fingers; rat traps will break them (human phalanges = rat spines). On the other hand, if you eat rat meat, you might consider a bigger trap a good thing - more meat to go around!

Driving Miss Chicken

As I mentioned in another post, Shelby sold his truck. This minor detail made transporting chickens to the farm very interesting yesterday. Approximately 40 minutes in the car with chickens in the backseat will make anyone a little carsick.

They were in a cage. 8 of them. A smelly 8.

You could tell when one would poop because the others would scramble around, possibly in a desperate attempt to stay out of the other's waste. Squawk! Churp-Churp!

How many Passats in the world were used to transport chickens yesterday? I'm guessing ONE...
Ahh, life in Kentucky :)