Tuesday 12 May 2009

Super Furry Animals

Slight change of pace from all the party talk I know but.....I smell a rat! Actually I didn't smell him... I saw him bloody sunbathing on our deck. After imparting this information to Other Half, the only thing I actually can now smell is the onion-like fragrance of the natural rat deterrent powder liberally sprinkled about the garden. The stench is supposed to make them pack their rat bags and leave pronto...it doesn't work but it has put me off onions!

We've now had two visits from a very pleasant pest control chap from the council, who by the way, is possibly the tallest man I have ever seen. I wondered if he got the job because he's able to intimidate them into leaving with his giant stature? If that's the case then Ratty Ratterson must have a rather large set of kahunas cos he's still hanging with his homeys, possibly wearing a rat hoodie and swearing at passing field mice, despite the tasty poison-laced food that was left for him. The Tall Guy is due back this Thursday but will be getting his rat progress report via a note due to the impending celebrations. No rat is going to make me late for my own party!

Thinking about it, this is might be karma as a result of the now infamous rodent debacle from my childhood. Having rescued a mouse from the neighbours cat, I was firmly instructed to "put a bloody lid on that box" before MM went out that night. I forgot and it escaped, much to hers, my but not my little brothers horror. We presumed it had made like Elvis and left the building as nothing was ever seen or heard of it again..... until the midnight saucepan clanging incident some weeks later. Despite hastily shoving the neighbours cat in the kitchen and shutting the door, more clanging was heard the following night.

I knew I was in real trouble later in the wee small hours when MM yelled at me to "get in here now!". On arriving in her bedroom, I found her standing in the middle of their bed, hysterically pointing at the wiggling curtain whilst ringing my father who was on night shift. Needless to say by the time he got home there was no sign of the errant mouse and I was in deep Doo Doo! 

As I sleepily went to the fridge the next morning to put away the milk used to make a conciliatory cup of tea, I caught sight of a pair of legs hanging down from some pipe housing. Having taken my turn to scream "Get here now", my father reassured me to stop panicking as it was clearly dead. Well you would be too if you'd crawled up between two hot water pipes, split your difference and got stuck there until the water heater came on in the morning! As dad's do, he fetched a pair of pliers to pull it out.... and it kept on coming, and coming...... and coming. 

The mouse that I had rescued some weeks earlier turned out to be a baby rat; a rat that enjoyed it's childhood in our house and proceeded to grow to extreme proportions. This also explained why the dog had been getting thinner  - small wonder when we discovered the pile of biscuits and food that had been stored away behind the dishwasher. Can you even begin to imagine how popular I was for a long time after that little lot?

No rats have been harmed in the making of this blog post..... yet!


6 comments:

Jean said...

Arrghhh, rats! OMG, I can't even think about them without feeling sick, they are so disgusting. Good luck with getting rid!

p.s. you're tagged on my blog

Anonymous said...

Many people suggest using peanut butter as bait inside rat traps. And it is true that they love the stuff. However, it can also work as a natural antidote to the hideous stuff in rat poison. Voila - happy peanutty live rat!

Bet you didn't know that.

Tara@Sticky Fingers said...

Gah! Saw the word rat and can read no more.
So instead would just like to say, only 4 more days to go . . .
Oh and please start Twittering so I can talk to you more.
Oh and, can't wait to see what you do with new 'grown up' blog!

TheOnlineStylist said...

NSM - Thanks for the tag - might save it up for the new blog as running out of time before big day(s)! Like your new look blog BTW!
Mud - We tried the peanut butter trap thing... also works with chocolate... except not on our rat! Would work for me!
Tara - Sorry for freaking you out with the rat story! I am considering Twitter... always said I wouldn't but once the party's over I think I could be persuaded! Especially if it means I get to talk to you more! Don't get too over excited about the new blog... just a bit of a make over and new name. Not sure I can deliver on the Grown Up front! xxx

Anonymous said...

Oh God, I'd die if I saw one of those things.

TheOnlineStylist said...

Rosie - If I see him again I might!