Rat story!

One night a few weeks ago the kids were all in bed and Doug and I were getting ready for bed. I saw a mosquito in our room and went to find the mosquito zapper, which I thought was in the office. [Our office is located upstairs with the bedrooms.] As I turned on the light in the office, I saw something rather large with a long tail buzz under the couch in our office. I let out a blood curling scream and quickly ran into the bedroom to tell Doug. I said, "It's either a very large mouse or a rat!"

The children crawled out of their beds because they wanted to see, too. I got up on the chair in the office. Doug put Ryan up on a chair near the patio door so he could watch to see if the rat would run under the computer desk etc. I was to watch if it ran under the couch. Brandon was on a chair close to the steps with a broom to keep it from running into the bedrooms if it should come his way.

Doug moved the couch out from the wall and we saw it's long tail and we simultaneously said, "It's a RAT!" He tried to shoot it with his blow gun and missed sending the rat running under the computer desk. This occurred several times with the rat running back and forth from the desks to under the couch. I would see it peek his head out from under the couch, scream, and the rat would go back under. :-)

Finally the rat ran toward Ryan's chair and over behind the computer where the children do school. Ryan screamed and was very scared! I guess the rat decided to make a run for it and ran out across the floor and towards me and Brandon. I think Doug stepped on its tail and deterred it for a second, but when he lifted his foot, the rat proceeded toward me and Brandon. It ran right by me and Brandon headed into Regina's bedroom. I was screaming because I did not want that thing in our bedrooms!!! Regina and Jonathan were quietly sitting on Regina's bed watching the whole scenario.

Thankfully, the children had thrown some dirty clothes on the floor in the hallway (we're working on that, but this was one time I was glad they had done it). The rat got slowed down in the clothes, or else he thought he was going to hide in them or something. Brandon took the broom above his head and wacked down and he hit the rat!!!! He hit it hard enough that it just lay there. I couldn't believe it! Doug took the broom and wacked him several more times just to make sure he was dead and he didn't budge. It appeared that Brandon wacked him hard enough to give the death blow! Hurrah!!! I kept saying, "Brandon you're the man! You killed the rat!" I was so proud of him. He was definitely the hero of the night as he kept the rat from invading Regina's bedroom and put an end to our adventure.

After it was all over, I found myself still up on the chair and really scared to come down. I tiptoed across the floor remembering how the rat scampered out and scared to death there might be another.

Little Ryan was so scared to go to bed he started to cry. He didn't want to sleep in his room, he wanted to sleep in ours. Doug had a little talk with him telling him that Brandon was the one who killed the rat and so he would get to sleep with the brave guy who killed the rat! :-) It seemed to work and just a few minutes before 11:00, they finally settled down and fell asleep.

I hope that was the last of the rats and mice. They certainly are not welcome in my home! We do not see many rats in this community but they can get in. He must have gotten in under the back door sometime when we weren't aware of it. Doug put poison behind the stove and in our food pantry to ward off any other intruders that might give our home a try. :-)

I was thankful that I had gone out to get the mosquito zapper. Otherwise, we would not have known the rat was upstairs and it may have gotten into the kids bedrooms and give them a good scare sometime.

Doug bagged the rat up and took it outside for the garbage man to get in the morning. The neighbors were sitting on their porch and Doug told them what happened. They heard me screaming and thought maybe I saw a cockroach! I'm too used to them. I wouldn't scream like that for a cockroach. Or they thought maybe we were playing, but they thought my scream sounded a little too intense for play.

I told Doug the one time after I screamed that the neighbors would think I was having a heart attack or something, but I couldn't help it when I saw that ugly thing. :-)

When I go into the office at night and turn on the light, I still have visions of that thing running and hesitate making sure the way is clear before I enter.

The rat! It has an arrow in it because the children wanted him to shoot it after it was dead just to make sure it was really dead and not sleeping. :-)

The rat killer with his weapon.