Quote:
Originally Posted by SarFred
After our disappointing discovery that once again one of our new spark plug wires had been gnawed off by our homesteading rat, I decided to check our brand new air filter which in our Toyota is located in a securely locked box with a barrel-like tunnel pointing forward as an air intake. The new filter was indeed newly-gnawed and our pal was creating a new nest with the fibers in the secure confines of the box. I cleaned out the box and then poked a long stiff wire through the intake tunnel to see if it was clear. It didn't seem to come out the front end even though, as I gauged again, it was long enough. I started poking again, looking at the front of the tube for it to appear. What I saw was the nub of a nose and I thought Wow, could this be my boy? I watched and out it came again -- I guess I was poking him in the butt even as he held his ground. I pulled out the wire and quickly got the water hose, turned it on full blast, went back to the car and pulled the trigger on the nozzle and in a couple seconds the rat came sailing out, hit the ground running back under the car and even as quickly as I could bend to look and send the spray behind him, he was gone and I hoped was in the bushes. Our neighbor, who among others was rightly concerned about a rat loose in the neighborhood, happened to be walking her dog and stopped to see what was going on and she yelled, I saw him but I didn't see where he went. We were hopeful but still concerned. Rats are tenacious and proprietary when they've chosen a home. Later, our terrier flushed him from our bushes and my wife saw the rat run between our houses and hopefully out into the field behind having escaped with a lesson learned. I put the filter back in place, spliced the one spark plug wire together and the car worked fine. I put a piece of cardboard in front of the air intake tunnel to block re-entry should our bad tenant return. Three pieces of potato chips on top of the motor and the rat trap back in place re-filled with a piece of fresh turkey sausage because the internet told us rats like fat. Went to bed with fingers crossed. In the morning, our neighbor was out walking her dog and asked if the rat was gone. I was about to open the hood to see if the chips or trap was undisturbed, signaling temporary victory, and told her about our dog routing the rat and our hope he wouldn't return. The truth under the hood was even better. He had returned home, found his front door barred, and decided, unfortunately for him, to soothe his disappointment with a tasty dinner of sausage. It had to be good because he lost his survival focus, threw caution to the wind. Halfway through, he never knew what hit him.
|
Thanks for the report. Ahhh, 'tis just like one of those old literary conflicts that your old English teacher used to like to talk about. "Man vs. Nature"
But in this one, you won, SarFred. In most of those stories, Nature wins. (Hey. You were smart about the bait. Fat can be truly irresistible to many species. Sometimes I throw caution to the wind and seize the fat, too. I try not to. But sometimes....I just do.)
Carl Hiaasen would be really proud of you. And there was no bludgeoning necessary.
Boomer