Rat Bastard!!!

In the latest chapter of the Brookshire Cleaning Frenzy, I organized my books last night and this morning. I filled several containers with books I don't necessarily need at hand, but don't want to get rid of. So, this morning, before it got too hot in the attic, I hauled the containers up the attic stairs.

I've known that I've had a creature(s) living up there. Until recently I hadn't seen any activity. A month or so ago I saw some fresh terds. While my mom was in town a few weeks ago we bought some rat traps. I set a couple with some peanut butter and put them along an apparent trail. I've checked them every day or so, but nothing.

This morning I smelled a perculiar smell. Not quite bad yet, but something was definitely afoul in the attic. I grabbed my flashlight and did not see the bigger of the traps. Of course, the areas where I had to put the traps are hard to get to. I climbed closer to see a big tail and body, with an ugly old rat head neatly squeezed in the trap.

Now, I've seen some gross things in my life, but for some reason dead animals make every nerve in my body wiggle. Immediately, my mind started racing about how I'm going to get this son of a bitch out of my attic. I grabbed three trash bags and stuffed them inside each other. I opened the bag as wide as I could and set it between me and the rat/trap. I grabbed my long flat shovel and scooped him up. Wisely, I did this in relative darkness. If I had the flashlight on I'm pretty sure I would have had a puddle of puke to clean up as well.

I tied up those three bags and set them in an additional bag that already had trash in it. I'm now trying to decide if it can sit in my trash can until Monday, when the trashman comes again. In the meantime, I guess I need to go buy additional traps. This bastard was so big that he may have eaten any other competition, but I doubt it.

The only positive is that it appears he was probably caught yesterday. Any longer in my 130 degree attic and I'm pretty sure I'd have had a real gem of a mess to clean up. Sometimes life just ain't funny.