Earlier today, while my son and daughter were playing in the backyard, I noticed my son's absence, which typically means he's quietly and appropriately occupied, or doing something he should not...
So I walked around the corner of the house and saw him in the low bushes to the side of the house, against the fence. "Black bug," he said. OK, I thought, and asked 'where'; he stood near the fence and said "'der" and pointed to the ground, where I saw a small clump of what looked like black dirt amongst the bushes. As I got closer, I started to realize that there was a definite 'feather' like texture to it, and I assumed it was either a feather or two that was clumped together from the heavy rains we've just had, or perhaps even a small bird that somehow found it's way into that little corner and died.
My first reaction was to direct he and my daughter away from the 'black bug' and divert their attention to other things. As they went about their independent play i started to wonder about how to go about taking care of this, whatever it ended up being, and decided that I'd return during their nap, use a stick or something to pick up whatever was there and put in in the garbage. I also started to wonder if I should be concerned about a dead bird in these days of 'Avian Flu'. A few months back I simply thought this was something caused by drinking expensive imported French bubble water, but the press coverage and articles I've read have made me uncomfortably aware of the concerns, and I was imagining a set of black sedans from the CDC simultaneously screeching to a stop in front of our house. I also imagined that the mention of a dead bird might also concern my wife, who is also wary of any risks or exposure of disease to the kids. But first I'd need to figure out what I was dealing with.
Once the kids were in bed I'd forgotten the situation and had moved onto the need to find some tools still boxed from the move. At some point, for some reason, I remembered, and somewhat dreaded, the need to go inspect and remove my son's discovery. I found a discarded wrapping paper tube, folded it in half in order to use as 'feather chopsticks', and went to do some poking and prodding.
Whatever it was, it was a clump, and next to impossible to make out I still has a sense of it being feather and dirt. Whatever it was, the repeated attempts to lift it failed and I realized that there was pressure against it from the small fence I'd installed up against the brick and larger fence in order to keep the kids out of the side alley and rickety old, splintery tool shed. Whatever this was, it was caught in the space between the fence and brick. It was also starting to get a little creepy, as it was still not clear if it was a bird or who knows what. I also had figured out that if I could not grip/pick it up with the bent paper tube, I might not make it to the garbage without dropping it either, so I grabbed a small box from nearby in which to place it.
It only took a moment's pressure in the opposite direction of the fence to loosen things enough that I could finally lift the object out. As it began to be accessible I could still not figure it out; I saw a couple of twigs and dirt but it was all staying together. In was only when I placed it in the box that I recognized one of the sticks to be a leg, another to be a scaley tail, and with a double take and sickening feeling, recognized the head, nose, and eyes of a rat.
Earlier this week we'd had several days of severe rain; and this had to have been there through much of it, as it was clearly not 'fresh'. I'll leave out the rest of the gruesome details but suffice to say it was difficult to identify even after extracting it. It went straight into the garbage, stuffed and covered, and ready for disposal.
Once recognized, knowing what I'd found was quite disturbing. As much as I knew it would completely revolt my wife, who has a severe disdain for rats as it is, I also knew that telling her was essential. If there was one, there most certainly could be more, and with our kids playing in the yard, the last thing she should be unaware of is that possibility. It was a strong motivation for me in the placement of that fence, not only to prevent the kids from accessing the rickety shed with its wood slivers and cobwebs, but I recalled having also seen that some rat traps had been placed in there prior to our moving in.
And that's the moment that I thought to myself "If that one died out here, what are the odds that another got into the shed and tripped the trap?" With that thought, I pressed aside the brick that was propped against the door to the shed, unlatched it, opened the door, peered in and saw an overturned rat trap resting against the torso of its victim. Two legs extended from beneath it, a white belly was face up and visible below the trap, and had this been any more cartoonish, there's be outstretched arms as well. Yes, there was a second dead rat in the shed.
Having already removed the first, quite unintentionally, I was not interested in taking on another So I sucked it up, went to tell my wife, who was repulsed to the point of near vomiting. And all I could think was 'at least I found it, not her'. I called our new landlord who promptly came to remove it, discuss the situation and plan further actions. They've never had a problem inside the house, only recently discovered a possible concern on the other side of the property and placed the traps with no results prior to our moving in. But they'll be addressing it promptly, we'll have to be a little more cautious and on guard with the kids in the yard, and hopefully this will be the only entry that you might call a rat tale.
