Cats & Rats

I was stunned to find that I had a mouse (or mice) in my house. After all, the neighbourhood is crawling with cats. One can't walk up the street without greeting several cats. One has to watch one's step so as not to crush them. Most are friendly and run out to say hi. Just yesterday, I ambled past two lovely kittens lounging on the pavement. Of course, as I am allergic to the little critters, I have no cats in the house, which is bad news when one has rodents. I have been tempted to borrow a cat or two, but I have always been wary of cat curfews and I wouldn't want to be charged with cat napping.

Anyway, I had been cursing these cats for not doing their catly duty of killing rodents in the 'hood. Perhaps I cursed too hard, for one day last week, I discovered a very dead rat on the back porch. The rat had quite a severe laceration to its pectoral region. It lacked a tail, making me consider that it might not have been a rat after all, but a closer look assured me that it was a rat, probably a Rattus norvegicus. Flies had descended in great numbers. I dug a hole in the back yard and scooped up the rat with a shovel, finding that maggots had already invaded the beast and were crawling all over the rodent.

This, of course, reminded me of the intact rat skeleton I once found under the porch of an old house. I left it alone.

I chose a new template in the hopes that it would encourage me to blog more.

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