The Rat
It's interesting what things pull you together in a household....what projects naturally come up when you live in a house together...how easy it is to share ideas and work together toward a solution.
The last couple of days, in our household, it's the rat. Jody was standing in the hallway yesterday and saw a big, fat, black rat run across the kitchen floor. She was sufficiently freaked out....ran to the porch and squealed to Tracy and Sara, who jumped up immediately. The 3 ladies searched the kitchen for a while...timidly. Well, okay, Tracy wasn't timid...she was the bravest one. Couldn't find the sucker, though. At dinner the topic of conversation was the rat, where it's coming from, how to "get it". Ryan volunteered to get traps. He brought them home and he and Steve set them up....and while setting them up the booger ran out of the pantry, across Ryan's foot, and across the kitchen floor. So now we have two eyewitnesses. And the traps were set with cheese buried in peanut butter. This morning, Ryan found the traps...food gone...one trap tripped...but no rat. Grrrrr....
After morning prayers the topic was all about the rat. Everyone exchanging ideas...what to do...thoughts about how the scoundrel got away. Sara and Jody and Cat express their horror and annoyance. Ryan continues to analyze and come up with ideas to try. Steve laughs...I think he is amused by our squeamishness...then he volunteers to bring home some glue traps...after explaining the torture the rat will go through if caught in one. Yes! Dave's out of town, but he gives his two cents by phone...the peanut butter/cheese idea. Even the children are in on the discussion. Jon acts very cool and nonchalant...he IS 16...and reminds us about the rat we had last year. Joseph doesn't quite know what a rat is because he's never seen one, but he asks hundreds of questions and thinks maybe it looks like a fox. Grace has no idea what's going on...she just laughs and smiles at everyone and all their funny faces as they discuss this problem. But together, this little army will defeat this enemy!
We have great discussions in community...we discuss challenges in each other's lives and offer encouragement, we offer each other spiritual direction and counsel, we share ideas from books we read together, we have political discussions....and sometimes we discuss a rat and how to kill it.
The last couple of days, in our household, it's the rat. Jody was standing in the hallway yesterday and saw a big, fat, black rat run across the kitchen floor. She was sufficiently freaked out....ran to the porch and squealed to Tracy and Sara, who jumped up immediately. The 3 ladies searched the kitchen for a while...timidly. Well, okay, Tracy wasn't timid...she was the bravest one. Couldn't find the sucker, though. At dinner the topic of conversation was the rat, where it's coming from, how to "get it". Ryan volunteered to get traps. He brought them home and he and Steve set them up....and while setting them up the booger ran out of the pantry, across Ryan's foot, and across the kitchen floor. So now we have two eyewitnesses. And the traps were set with cheese buried in peanut butter. This morning, Ryan found the traps...food gone...one trap tripped...but no rat. Grrrrr....
After morning prayers the topic was all about the rat. Everyone exchanging ideas...what to do...thoughts about how the scoundrel got away. Sara and Jody and Cat express their horror and annoyance. Ryan continues to analyze and come up with ideas to try. Steve laughs...I think he is amused by our squeamishness...then he volunteers to bring home some glue traps...after explaining the torture the rat will go through if caught in one. Yes! Dave's out of town, but he gives his two cents by phone...the peanut butter/cheese idea. Even the children are in on the discussion. Jon acts very cool and nonchalant...he IS 16...and reminds us about the rat we had last year. Joseph doesn't quite know what a rat is because he's never seen one, but he asks hundreds of questions and thinks maybe it looks like a fox. Grace has no idea what's going on...she just laughs and smiles at everyone and all their funny faces as they discuss this problem. But together, this little army will defeat this enemy!
We have great discussions in community...we discuss challenges in each other's lives and offer encouragement, we offer each other spiritual direction and counsel, we share ideas from books we read together, we have political discussions....and sometimes we discuss a rat and how to kill it.
posted by Jody at 5:53 AM
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