yeti speak…

an all-too-familiar foe

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With the kids in school Christa and I had a great opportunity to go out for lunch a few days ago.  We ordered some great sandwiches from Grinders and headed down to Edmonds' Marina Beach. 

While enjoying our lunch in the sun, overlooking the majestic Puget Sound, Christa's eyes landed on something quite disturbing.  There in front of our picnic table (about ten feet away) crawling brazenly among the driftwood was a shaggy, limping, dust-colored, despicable RAT! 

This is no joke.  It was NOT one of these "rat" terrier dogs that you see many people walking down the beach.  It was the real deal.

I know this is the year of the Rat, but having left the rodent-infested environs of Jianzha we thought we had escaped such sights for a while.  But, no!  Not only did we witness this 6-inch rodent pass once, but the rat later returned (IN FULL DAYLIGHT mind you) and wandered up the beach completely unafraid of predators.  If only I had been carrying a wooden spoon or some other implement of destruction.

Besides being thoroughly grossed-out by this creep show, Christa marveled at the fact that we used to live "with" these creatures.  Fortunately, crossing my fingers and knocking on wood, we do not have these kind of tenants in our rental home.  We do, however, have a mole problem.  Each day we see more and more mysterious "mounds" in our front yard.  It makes me wonder if certain people just attract these sort of critters.  With our luck they are probably naked rat moles.  I wouldn't be surprised.

5 responses to “an all-too-familiar foe”

  1. JLo Avatar
    JLo

    You might be comforted to know that Moles don’t belong to the same Order as rats. Rats belong to the order Rodentia, and Moles belong to Soricomorpha. They are cousins to shrews and hedgehogs. I didn’t know all of this on my own, but I was pretty sure moles and rats weren’t apart of the same category. Nevertheless, not being rodents doesn’t make them less of a pest to your yard. My grandpa used to sit in his front yard in his overalls with a shot gun tucked underneath his arm. He’d whittle on his knife and wait for moles to peak up above the ground, and then he would take aim and fire. He also lived way out in the country and remembered a time when he used a wagon to get to work.

  2. ellen b Avatar
    ellen b

    Yuck is that a real photo of a animal? Is that a huge mole or what? I’m grossed out by the hands/paws.

  3. Abbey Lockwood Avatar
    Abbey Lockwood

    Man, I wish WE could have a shot gun to get rid of our mole(s) that seem to delight in waiting until we have the yard properly groomed and then, bloop, up comes a mound. That is if it is/they are not consuming my tulip bulbs! Is it a sin to loathe, nay, HATE one of God’s creatures?

  4. yeti Avatar
    yeti

    jason: thanks for clearing the whole mole/rat conundrum for me. that’s a great image of your grandpa and his shotgun. there is something unique to america about that.

    ellen: yes, that’s a real mole. not the one in my yard though. the hands are disturbing. it reminds me of a black and white movie i saw once about “shangri la”(I think?) that had these creepy mole men in it.

    abbey: good theological question. jesus withered a fig tree once because it wasn’t giving fruit. what was that all about? i did grow to loathe rats quite a bit when i was battling them last year. i think god understood my position.

  5. rachel Avatar
    rachel

    I have to admit, I let out a little yelp when I saw the photo of the mole. I have never seen a picture of one SO close!

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