Here's a story for you, so settle back and get comfortable. A long long time ago, in 1982, Bill and I moved to this place we live now. This property that belonged to my grandpa, Herman Schultz, was given to my mom and then given to me. Since I was a land baroness, Bill had to marry me. The land didn't include a home but no worries. We bought what we could afford and moved in.
After we moved in, we recruited the family to help us clean up the corrals and barn that had been falling apart for years.
 |
| Does anyone recognize anyone? |
Don't we look like a young and lively group? Grandpa looks especially young and lively. Good thing because we had a lot of work to do. One of the big jobs was to eliminate the prior occupants of the barn.
We tried a variety of ways to eliminate the neotoma cinerea / packrats. Nothing was working well, and the packrats appeared to be getting more brazen with time. If we went into the barn at night with a flashlight, we discovered the rats would be attracted to the beam of light and come out to show off. We decided we had an opportunity if we could combine the light and a weapon. That's when Bill and I became Rat Busters. We would take turns shining the flashlight and shooting the rats. It was how we regained ownership of the barn and entertained ourselves on Friday nights.
Alas, much time has passed since those days. And then the other night at dinner, Grandma announced that the barn had been reclaimed by the packrats. Of course we were all alarmed, but Grandma had a solution. She recommended the Rodent Repellant, a machine that uses a jackhammer like sound to create intense auditory stress for rodents. She smiled broadly at the thought of a rat free barn. Natalie and I looked at each other and had the same horrifying thought at the same time of all the rats running away from the barn and up to our house!
We said, "Wait Grandma, before we resort to technology how about if we try something old fashioned?" She agreed. I know you're thinking Rat Busters, right? Well, the Rat Busters have better things to do on a Friday night these days, and we have some support equipment now. So we gathered our supplies.
First the mouth watering bait.
Then the Hava Heart trap. Ours is fondly referred to as the Hav no Heart trap. We set the crackers on the tray inside with the doors open on both ends in a high traffic rat lane. Then we leave it for the comfort of the house. The next morning we check it.
Bingo, you mutant rat. We're taking back the barn!
Our weapon of choice is the trusty R gun which is a .22 with bird shot. The R stands for rattlesnakes, rats and roosters. Do you see the white stained finger marks on the wood under the barrel? I was outside staining the boards for the ceiling in our new house when Natalie who was just 5 years old came running up to me with blood running down her arm crying because Pierre had attacked her. I grabbed the R gun which at that point only stood for rattlesnakes and rats and went after Pierre the rooster. Hence, the finger prints. That darn rooster flew into our massive yellow rose bush and hid from me. That night when Bill heard our story he grabbed the R gun and went out to the apricot tree where Pierre roosted and shot him dead. When Grandma heard our story she put Pierre in a pie and we ate him the next day.
And that's the end of the story, but the rat wars go on!
I can't resist commenting on this posting. First of all, I think the adorable little critter whose picture you included looks almost as cute as the micro pigs or Mary's little lambs.
ReplyDeleteAs for the family photograph from the 20th century, some of the people do look strangely familiar, although much younger and, in the case of at least one person, in much better shape.