ROUS... I don't think they exist...

I went for a quick walk after dinner. As soon as I got home Ian said, "I haven't even told the kids this... but I think there is something under the sink. I heard it scrabbling around."
Foolishly I said, "Oh. I'll go catch it... we need a pet mouse."
Ian said, "I think it had a long tail."
I didn't get the hint.

I opened the cabinet under the sink and saw nothing. I start taking everything out, piece by piece, and I saw something in the left-hand side out of the corner of my eye. I grabbed a small bucket and prepared to catch it. Imagine my surprise when a LARGE, BROWN RAT ran out at me! I started screaming. The kids started shrieking in terror in the next room thinking whatever it was attacked me. The rat retreated into our bedroom and settled under OUR BED.

After a long chase (that was a cross of a Laurel and Hardy movie and the scene from Princess Bride) I shooed the rat out onto our back porch and out the back door. Man... those things can climb up the wall in the corner of the room... it almost fell on me at one point. Then we had to clorox everything under the sink. Seal the sink cabinet with spray foam. Wash the clothes we were wearing on sanitize. Bleh. What a crappy evening...

I blame Ian. He made dinner tonight - a delicious pot of collard greens cooked with organic, applewood smoked bacon. It smelled SO good that the dog sat pleadingly the entire time Ian was cooking and the entire time we were eating. It must have smelled so good that the rat couldn't help himself and came inside. Maybe it was Remy...

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yeah, yeah,
blame everything on good coking, it works in my house.
Olga

Tina in CT said...

This isn't for real, is it?

Katya said...

I'm afraid the whole story is true, Tina. It was quite traumatic. :-)

Tina in CT said...

OMG! I'd have been screaming my head off in fright! Where was Ian? How big was "Remy"? Didn't the dog act funny and keep sniffing and barking at the cupboard?

Katya said...

Remy was about a foot long from nose-tip to tail-tip.

Ian was laughing hysterically watching me chase this thing around and directing the kids to block the entrance to our room so that he didn't go back into the rest of the house.

Shadow didn't even notice. I guess the bacon smell in the kitchen was more powerful than the rat smell.

Katya said...

Ian says that this is a sign -- the one time he cooks he attracts a rat. He says that means he shouldn't be allowed to cook dinner again. :-)

Tina in CT said...

You and the boys should have been in the bedroom behind the door and Ian should have dealt with the rat I think.

Katya said...

We have a division of labor... I am the hunter of rodents, snakes and stray birds. Ian dispenses with cockroaches, spiders, the things with a million legs that look like eyebrows, and wasps.

Anonymous said...

So, it sounds to me like you hunting for the bigger fish.
With rats of this size you will need a "bigger box"!
Olga

Tina in CT said...

I could never go with that division of labor as I hate all the creatures. Phil was the "hunter/trapper". I have called my neighbors when I have had a trapped mouse or when there was a squirrel in the house (post divorce and no more "hunter/trapper"). I am a squeemish screamer. You are a brave lady!