RATS!

I stopped mid-sentence, mouth agape and watched it race down the hall, dash into my bathroom.

Yikes! A rat, I said, and clicked end on my phone.

I scurried to my neighbor’s in need of moral support. We’ve known there are rats around since her dog alerted her to one on her patio. We live next to the Delta Ponds. But inside?!

In a way, though, it was a relief. For several weeks I had ‘seen’ movement in my peripheral vision. But each time, when I looked - nothing there.

Well, at least I’m not losing my mind. Or my vision.

My neighbor loaned me her trap and some peanut butter. I set it in my kitchen that night.

Next morning, the trap was sprung, empty . . . and the peanut butter devoured! Clever little beasts.

Thus began a campaign to block all potential entry points. Steel wool and duct tape over the obvious spots. A few days went by. Then one morning there were two piles of confetti – one by the kitchen sink, one by the cabinets opposite. I was puzzled, because this wasn’t paper and I couldn’t think what I might have dropped there. I vacuumed it up.

Next day, a smaller pile by the sink. I peered under the cabinet doors and saw the gnawed plastic baseboard molding! There’s a gap between the bottom of the cabinet and the baseboard. They were making a new entry!

Oh, rats! I exclaimed, feeling a bit like Charlie Brown, bamboozled again - and by actual rats!

More steel wool. More crannies stuffed. More duct tape.

My neighbor and I share a wall and the crawl space. Fortunately, we’re good friends. And she hates rats. We needed a Rat Patrol and it wasn’t going to be us.

Her daughter recommended a company.

We scheduled an inspection. They sent a guy to set traps and seal the holes in foundation vents and other entry points.

He checked the traps a week later. I asked if they caught any.

Nope, he said. They’re smart. They bump the trap, it springs. They eat the peanut butter.

Somehow, I felt better. And not about the rats. Even professionals fail.

Footnote: eventually, five rats trapped, no more gnawing or scurrying inside! Yay!