Rats!

We REALLY wanted to sleep in this morning but the dogs were barking early, just driving us nuts! Mark got up around 2:30 and put them in the kennel and they stayed quiet til just before 7. I finally went out to see what was bothering them, it was definitely a "there's something out there" bark.

That's where the rats come in...

There were two dead ones and six live ones. I scooped them out and deposited them in the grass beside the pool to dry off. When I went back out to check if they'd vanished, they were still there, shivering. Soooo, we wrapped them in a towel and sat with them in the sun for about an hour. I took them, still in the towel, back to the woodpile. Hopefully they've found their mama again. What scares me is what might have chased them into the pool. We smelled a skunk outside last night. It probably rooted them out of their nest and ate what didn't make it to the water. A snake or bird would have gone in after them.


(they were absolutely tiny, I have no idea about the age, maybe 2 weeks? A dime would fit on the top of their head between the base of their ears)


(we warmed some of them in our hands for several minutes before putting them in the towel "nest")


(although they are reeeeeally cute, we are off to buy rat poison this afternoon)