Drat - I've Got Rats!
The other morning I heard a thud in the attic and then some skittering, so after I changed my underwear, I called my local pestilence-ridding guy and begged him to come out, climb into the nether regions of my house and wage war on whatever beast was up there.
Unfortunately, North Texas was cloaked in ice for the entire week, so it was three days of skittering, shuffling and, I swear, howling at one point before he could scramble into the attic and address this issue. In the meantime, I glared at the ceiling, shook my fist and seethed.
I know this is not much, but it shut Texas down.
Angst, angst, angst all week, not just because of that, but because of ice storms, freezing rain, power grid fears and dogs that won’t go outside to potty (I’m looking at you, Winnie). It used to be that “snow days” were a vacation from work, but now that I work from home most days, it’s just another day at the office with three dogs staring at me, some kind of rodents in the attic and bitterly cold air outside. There are only so many miles you can log on the treadmill. Woman Over-Bored!
After the ice storm had moved on and the roads thawed, Ryan from the pest control company finally came out with his Rodent Busters hat and overalls on, I felt like I’d made a new best friend. My handshake was probably a little too hearty. It’s always nice to see humanity again after a prolonged stint in house jail with more animals than I can count.
“Bite down on that mouthguard and give ‘em hell!” I said, as his legs disappeared into the attic.
A few minutes later, he descended with a suspicious plastic bag, which he was tying closed. “You have roof rats,” he said.
A roof rat.
“Burn it down!” I said.
No, I didn’t say that, but it was a near thing. So we spent the next few minutes talking options, all of which cost me money but get rid of the rats, which is I guess the point of all this, short of burning down Chez Shasta and every last varmint in it. Rat sautee, as it were.
And this is not even my first rat encounter!
So that’s been my week.
As for the weekend, Buddy’s getting adopted on Sunday, and I am both sad for me and happy for him. He is the best foster I’ve ever had, and if I hadn’t already adopted Piper, I would have snatched him up. I think I might actually cry when he drives off with his new dad. He’s the bestest boy, and I will miss him.
