RATS!!!

Last Sunday was just a beautiful day, warm and sunny. Everybody here went outside to help in the veggie garden. Don was in the great hay bunny poop pile separating the composted part from the mostly hay part and shovelling the composted stuff into the wheelbarrow. P, teen-age son, was dumping it in the garden and T, teen-age daughter, and I were spreading it around. I'm just about glowing with happiness, I'm back in my beloved gardens with the-whole-family-pitching-in-and-having-a-good-time-anyways thing going on. People are passing in their cars, beeping and waving. We're waving back when we know them and even when we have absolutely NO clue on who they are.

So there we, having a good time when everything went sideways with the stroke of a shovel. Seems a mama rat thought the hay pile would be an excellent place to raise some youn'uns. Don's shovel hit smack in the middle of the nest. Mama runs away, three of the babies run away but the last baby must have been hit by Don's shovel. It is crippled and screaming blue murder. Don is white, P is looking like he might toss his lovely breakfast all over his shoes. T's face is frozen in sheer horror, her hands over her ears to block out the little rat's screaming. I grab a shovel to smack the rat and end it's pain. I hesitate, I'm not thinking this is an image I want my family to have of me. Besides, even though it's an ugly rat, it still should be dispatched as humanely as possible. I don't want to have to whack it more than once which might happen if I use the shovel. I run inside grab my trusty pellet gun and do away with the baby rat. Ew. Did I mention the little critter tried to bite me when I picked it up? Ew. Good thing I was wearing gloves. Ew. Wonder where the other ones went. Have I said "Ew" yet? Let me reiterate - EW, EW, EW! Where's the stupid cat when you need her? Oh year, right - she's having a nap on my bed.

Anyhow, we are going to have to do something about our waste hay management because I don't think I want to start a haven for rats. It's not too bad in the summer because it turns to compost really fast. It's the winter that's the problem, it just sits there and beacons the wildlife.