Although we don't usually celebrate or anything, this year I'm doing a little happy dance to usher in the new year! We are SO done with the year of the rat! SO, so, so glad that it's over and that it will be another 12 years before it comes again!
Why do I care?
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Illustration A: Christmas present caught in sticky mouse trap.
After mice got into our attic and ruined all of our good Christmas present hiding places...we were a little grossed out, but were still quite thankful that it was only in our attic. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Illustration B: Squirrel chewing a hole in our kitchen window screen. Several more squirrels were simultaneously clawing and chewing on various other screens around our house.
When squirrels started climbing the sides of our house and chewing holes in our screens I was perturbed! --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Illustration C: Our garage door AFTER Glen had to replace the damaged panel.
Then when rats chewed two holes THROUGH our garage door and made themselves a nest in a bag of potting soil and defiled our garage with their filth I was officially enraged! ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
All this in one autumn when we've never had any prior rodent issues in the 7+ years we've lived in this house.
So, what's going on? Well it turns out that in addition (or maybe because of it?) to it being the year of the rat that there's also a mysterious acorn shortage that has plagued our area and driven these rodents to desperate measures. You can read all about it here. While somewhat sympathetic to their drive for survival I am not happy that they've taken to defiling/destroying our property to do it!
And that is why I say good riddance to the year of the rat and welcome oxen!!!!!
I'm feeling so much better about this whole year of the ox.......as long as there's not some mysterious ox food shortage that drives them to ram people's cars and stampede their gardens, then I think we're going to get along just fine!
Although, knowing my luck I should probably be prepared...does anyone know where we can buy an ox trap?
I'm with you on the rodent thing. Squirrels are just rats with fluffy tails as far as I'm concerned. We now have a pile of bricks on the horizontal portion of our chimney because rats, I mean squirrels, were using it as a perch to chew holes in our siding in an effort to get back into our attic.
ReplyDeleteAnd I read about the mysterious acorn shortage, too, but all I see are fat and sassy squirrels running around. Must be all the Halloween pumpkins and garbage (or my compost pile) they've been scrounging.
I would have moved after the rats moved into the garage!!! Is that normally a problem in the area? rats?
ReplyDeleteI don't think they're normally a problem in the area (at least not for us or our neighbors), but I guess with all the food shortages they were just getting desperate. We weren't the only ones with issues this fall.
ReplyDeleteHello Dave Berry!! AKA Lara. Mom and I just laughed as we read your account of your rodent problems.
ReplyDeleteActually I was the only one laughing as mom was groaning and looked kinda nauseous reading about rats and garbage, etc. She has always had a phobia about rodents ever since our house in Andover where field mice used to sneak in our basement every winter.
She won't even allow me to leave the garage door open a few inches to let Tux the cat free access fearing that local micies will use it as an entrance-as if they need an opening that large!
Let us know when you get rid of them all-so we can come back and visit.
Love, Mom and Dad
Mom and Dad,
ReplyDeleteYou can come back anytime. We haven't seen any evidence of a rodent in a couple months. Perhaps it was the liberal poisons we distributed, or the traps, or the fact that we covered up all their entrances and cleared our garage of anything they might like...all I know is that they're gone! You can come visit us anytime...just don't bring your pet ox with you.
If my memory serves me correctly. Dad is an ox (born in the year of the ox). So you may have an ox around this year when he visits.
ReplyDeleteI feel a little obnoxious commenting so many times on my own post, but I just hate being misunderstood so here I am again. Actually Matt, we already have two ox in the house (Cami and me) so Dad would just fit right in here (as long as he doesn't ram our cars or anything).
ReplyDelete