I saw a RAT scurrying across my garage floor two nights ago. It creeped me out, but good.

We knew there were mice in the garage(s) when we bought the place, because we saw those mouse poison boxes scattered here and there. That bugged me, but the bearded eye-roller has been good about 'dealing' with that. But rats? Ugggh!

I haven't seen any evidence that there are rodents in the house, thank goodness. But now I'm paranoid to go into the garage, so when I do- I make a big scene so the vermin know I'm coming. I open, then shut (loudly!), then open the door again before going in the garage.

BER and I have decided to hire a pest company to take care of the, erm, situation. I asked our Realtor (and now friend) who he recommended, because I assumed he's needed to get rid of this sort of thing when listing homes a time or two.

He told me that it was probably our bird feeders attracting these ugly creatures. He said that his neighbors have taken down their bird feeders and it's helped tremendously.

I *love* my bird feeders and I love my birds! Our back yard has hundreds of birds (no exaggeration) because I have several types of feeders (two types of suet feeders; thistle seed feeder for the finches; woodpecker feeder for the woodpeckers; hummingbird feeder; 'general' feeder for the other various birds; and a flat feeder for the jays, mourning doves, and squirrels) and I always make sure there is food for them. I've seen a rat or three in the flat bird feeder and it's grossed me out, but I got over it because it's OUTSIDE.

I'm not willing to give that up- but I also don't want to worry about seeing a rat any time I go into one of the garages. Yech.

I'll call the pest company and go from there, I guess. Thankfully, BER knows that by having pets of the wild variety (birds and squirrels), it's kept my wishing for a puppy at bay and I don't think he wants to jeopardize that. I'm pretty sure he'll agree to buck up for the cost of monthly pest service, just to keep me from whining about wanting a puppy. He's smart like that.

Realistically, I don't think there is any way to keep the rats away if I have something attracting them. The pest company can keep trapping them, but we live in a very rural area so they'll just keep coming, I'm afraid.

Tra-la-la.... I'll pretend this isn't happening. That's my solution to just about everything.