Oh RATS!

Well, that cup of coffee that wasn’t supposed to last long this morning, lasted longer than I expected. That wasn’t because I displayed my impressive switchblade collection (claws) and demanded the human wait for a refill, it was because she had unfinished business to take care of that had kept her up until 1:30 am last night in a flurry of activity -(Which is why I couldn’t get her to post for me last night- or until now).

You know how every house has things stored in various places, things that used to be frequently needed or used, but have long since been forgotten?

There are other places in every house where things are useful, and yet aren’t used regularly, so they just sit until they’ve been there longer than the stone age. Things like bottled water, extra storage bags, waffle irons used only occasionally, baking pans that are rarely used, etc. Well, the night before last, I was telling our Can Opener what to write for our post, and she heard a noise in the kitchen.

That normally wouldn’t have been a big deal, but the backup Can Opener was already asleep, Twilight was outside, and nobody was in the kitchen at 11:30. Nobody human, anyway.

So much for that Sleepytime tea….

The Can Opener had long since cleaned up the kitchen and was just having hot tea and doing my typing, so she had to investigate when she started hearing more suspicious noises. So, she followed the sounds into the kitchen and then heard a loud metallic CLANG from under the kitchen sink. I watched as she proceeded to open the cabinet under the sink, then suddenly jumped away! A RAT climed up onto the top of the washing machine and was looking very startled and unhappy.

Well, he wasn’t the only one. My human immediately did everything she could to get him out – but he was a lot faster than she is. So, she did the next best thing. She looked to see if I knew there was a rat on the washer, and I was watching and waiting for popcorn.(She never brought me any).

So then, she opened the door and called Twilight in (The Exterminator).

Who, being the highly effective cat she is, promptly ignored her and left for the stream behind the house. Good job, girl.

I think the rat was waiting for popcorn too. But he didn’t get it either. The human amused us both for hours going on a cleaning frenzy and was up half the night trying to get rid of the nocturnal nightmare. It didn’t work.

She threw out tons of food she had under the kitchen sink too – food she had recently bought because of sky-rocketing prices, (things we use regularly and run out of often). New, unopened food. Boxes of oats, (unopened) bags of chips, boxes of crackers, boxes of cereal (all new, and unopened). The little nightmare had even chewed the labels off a can of pumpkin that was under the counter.

Twilight eventually came moseying inside, and instantly stopped in front of the cabinet and sat there, sniffing, prowling- (for hours). Then decided she was ready to eat. Hello- there’s a RAT available….

Lucky for the human -(and the rat), he didn’t mess with the boxes of French Roast k-cups she had just put there- she’d be out for blood and hire a hit man to kill him.

Oh wait- she did.

Since Twilight only wants him for a toy, she called the other Exterminator. (the one she has to pay). Poor guy’s days are numbered. Hope he enjoys them while he can.

Good show, Mr.Rat. Pity we didn’t get the popcorn.

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