Friday, May 05, 2006

Honestly, I have been to see places in Hawai'i, too

I don't mean my blog to deteriorate into a tale entitled "woman goes to exotic location and encounters creatures". But just one more creature-related thing, and then I'll give those stories a rest for a while, I promise. This one isn't even particularly exotic. I discovered there is a family of rats living in the stone wall between ours and next doors (the family with the chickens). I saw half a dozen inquisitive and playful rat youngsters in the flower bed today, actually engrossed in nipping off the flowers of a rockery plant, the name of which I don't know, and eating them. Luckily, the rockery bed is completely separate from the rest of the garden, but that won't stop them for long. Damnation. I called the rental agency and they promised an exterminator. Trouble is, we have had rats as pets and I will feel like a murderer.

My Finnish friend, while sorting out the HTML for my Earth viewer, also read my blog and promptly skyped me the most horrendous URL, for a film clip showing the *true* mother of all centipedes attacking and devouring a mouse. I could bear watching it for about five and a half seconds. I take it all back. Compared to this thing – I am not joking, it was the length and thickness of a woman's forearm – my centipede is a mere thread. Only to be found in SE Asia, though, so I can still sleep at night (just).

I have tickets to go home for the summer! That means my Hawai'ian diary will have some Finnish entries.

© 2006 Anna MR

6 comments:

nmj said...

God, we're both dealing with rodents, at least mine's just a mouse, but it terrorises me periodically with its nocturnal streaks across the kitchen!

Anna MR said...

Yeah, I read about your escapade with the bait plates sailing across the kitchen floor. It made for a wonderfully surreal, cinematic image.

The ratman cometh on Monday. I am a murderer, but what can you do.

nmj said...

I feel bad about poisoning the mice too, but there is no option - cupping them in my hands & placing them outside isn't goin to happen & they just come back in anyway! The poison puts them in a coma & they sleep away, not the worst way to die . . . but this one is immune, it squeaks really quite loudly & i hear it galloping behind the skirting at night, i have wondered if it is a rat, but surely not!!!

Anna MR said...

When my mum was small, they used to live on the second floor of a wooden house in the countryside for a while. Behind the cooker, they had mice that my auntie, then 2, used to feed. My gran was so soft she'd lure them into a paper back and hoist that down on a piece of string, out of the window.

Your mouse is probably developing super-murine qualities...Did you read/hear that thing last Autumn about mice singing? They had a soundbite in Guardian online, slowed down to be audible to the human ear. Amazing.

nmj said...

that is funny with the paper bag hoist! i think my mouse is singing cos it's so happy to be living here unscathed!

Anna MR said...

Argh - I meant of course a paper *bag*. That's what you get from writing at half past four in the morning.

I can understand you wanting to be rid of your mouse, but I am sort of fond of the idea of it "galloping" (your choice of words is delicious there) behind your skirting boards, singing away...