I haven’t written in way too long. Truth is, I haven’t felt much like writing and I need to get back to it. Right now I’m dealing with rats in my attic. It’s not been fun and I’m very grateful both to my Orkin man and to my dear friend Paul who’re working to help me. For those of my readers who may not know, I’m vegan. Several years ago, when I had mice in my kitchen, I live trapped them (either 50 mice or the same mouse 50 times) and released them in open fields.
But I am not able to get into my attic in the first place and somehow, rats seem to me to be a lot worse and a lot scarier. I’m told that it isn’t realistic to live trap them, so now my vegan principles hit the reality of having to get rid of the rats before I have an even bigger problem.
I’m not happy about it and so far, no rats have been trapped, which I find oddly comforting, but I can’t be sure they are truly gone. I know rats are smart, so maybe the work we’ve done so far has led them to move somewhere else. After all, there’s no food in my attic and all they have there is some shelter from the weather.
Paul has put wire mesh along the roof vent, which was their access point, so that they can’t come in to the actual attic. He also cut all the trees that gave roof access, and I’m hoping that has done the trick. Eventually, once the attic is deemed to be free of rats, I’ll have to have all the insulation replaced, so this is a big deal and an expensive one. However, it’s also a pretty common one on the island. We’re a rural community with lots of farms and I know my neighbors are also dealing with the rat issue. They raise chickens.
Anyway, I’m still hoping that the rats will just move on, but maybe I’m a fool. I do have an obligation to both myself and my fur friends to keep our home safe, so I’m trying to do that in the most reasonable way possible, but it does go against the grain for someone who saves spiders and slugs.
Daphne's Ramblings 