It’s just another Willa Cather day at Bedlam Farm. A rat got into the kitchen last night, climbed up on the counters, opened a cabinet somehow, pulled boxes of crackers and some wheat past off the shelves, and dragged them across the kitchen floor, opening several. He fell or jumped into the dog’s water bowl and left a mud trail from the kitchen into the downstairs bathroom, where we uncovered a hole dug and chewed option next to the water pipes in the bathroom.

This is the third rat assault in recent weeks; I have to give this rat credit – he is intelligent and resourceful. I got one of those Orwellian security cameras from Amazon because we couldn’t figure out who was invading us…there were no droppings. This intruder was intense and very smart.

Thanks to the camera, we see a giant rat responding with cages, rat traps (this one loves crackers), and some rat poisons that don’t harm dogs or other animals. Maria has been crawling into narrow spaces to plug holes from outside to the kitchen. It’s an old farmhouse, and there are plenty of ways to get inside; it just happens rarely; it’s not rare any longer.

With all the rains this year, everyone is under siege from rats or mice.

Above. Our new security cam spotted the rat just around 4 a.m. Nobody got back to sleep.

The Blink-Mini security camera alerted us at 4:30 am. that there was motion in the kitchen. They weren’t kidding. When we got downstairs, the kitchen was a mess; the Willa Cather woman who lives with me got busy and cleaned it up. This rat won’t eat peanut butter, and since he seems to love my crackers, we put some in several rat traps. We’ll see. This is a tough one; he’s the most intelligent rodent I’ve encountered. Rats are a lot smarter than mice.

This one is a big boy. I intend to kill him or, at best, drop him off 10 miles away if we can catch him.  We have a trap right in front of the area from which we know he is coming.

New technology will help us understand who’s eating our food and where it comes from. I’m wary of security cameras; Amazon is turning the country into a nation of Orwellian spies.

 

Zip wants to see and know everything, even how bird feeders are hung on walls.

Maria also began her morning by climbing a ladder and hanging up a new bird feeder outside the living room window. I’ll have excellent angles for some bird and nature art. It will take a few days for the the birds to find the feeder.  Maria is very kind to do this, and once again, I was in awe of her skills, hopping up on a ladder, screwing and unscrewing a window, and building a clamp to hold the feeder up high.

The range of her skills never ceases to amaze me. Zip, who thinks everything is his business, watched the feeders hanging closely. He may be imagining some birds too, but he seems not interested in catching birds.

It’s a Bedlam Farm morning, for sure.  Everyone we know is facing rat and mouse invasions; it was all of the rain and dampness. In her 20 years of life, I’ve never seen such aggressive mice and rats. Still, I am confident. As bright as rats are, they are not more intelligent than most people. We’ll see. Tonight, we’ll leave Bud out of his crate and see his hunting skills.

Maria got up on her ladder with her favorite tool, a drill. She knows how to use the drill bits. This is one of the ways we support each other. The minute I said I wanted to take photos of birds, she started figuring out how to do it. I can’t afford a new nature lens, but  I can now get close, sit, and wait patiently.  I have no choice but to be creative. I don’t really want a nature picture this time, but one with some atmosphere.

Yes, I know I’m lucky in my marriage.

 

Zip is waiting to meet with me this morning. He was fascinated by Maria’s drilling. Zip is the CEO of the farm now; everything is his business, and every bit of property is his. He is an animal of entitlement.