COVID-19 Lockdown, Day 251

 I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving. Mine was okay, all things considered. First, the holiday did not allow as many people as I hoped. Because of the pandemic, my friends and their children could not come over, and my wife had to go to work because it was short staffed. Then, while I had to make the dressing, the stupid oven would not turn on even though it worked the night before. So, I could not use the oven to make the dressing or warm up the turkey. So...I had a meltdown. My wife and my mother tried to console me, but with the year we had, could we not have something as simple as a trouble-free Thanksgiving? Is that too much to ask, considering almost nothing went right this year? Thankfully, I remembered my troubleshooting skills, and I warmed the turkey on the stovetop and made the dressing in the Dutch oven She-Sits-by-the-Fire gave me. The meal turned out well after all, and my wife and mother reminded me that Thanksgiving is not about food; it is about thanking God for all the blessings we have--even if we do not see or feel them. 

The rest of the day almost ended on a perfect note, but just as I was about to offer one of my cats a bit of turkey, I looked outside, and I saw a white rat nibbling on something. I yelled at it to scare it off. It ignored me at first but then ran off. As the sun set, I walked my mother to her car and took out some trash. As I returned, I saw that the rat was back on my patio. Annoyed, I shooed it away with a broom. It ran to the patio next door. When I came home the next evening, the same white rat was on my patio again. So, I took a piece of broken asphalt and threw it at it, hitting its head. Stunned, it ran off. I figured it would go somewhere to die. But that was not the end of it. The next morning, I saw it on my patio again. That was it. I took my walking stick outside, marched over to that disease bag, and put it to death. I will say, that bugger put up a fight--it tried chewing on the edge of my stick. I respect it for that,  but it finally died. A neighbor who saw three white rats the other night came over and took pictures of its remains.

I know there might be animal lovers out there who want to shun me. Let me state my case. I gave this fearless bugger three chances to go away, but it kept coming back. It deserved to die. Second, it made a huge mess on my patio from its nest, and it destroyed my tarp. Third, rats cause structural damage to buildings trying to go in where it is warm. They even start fires by chewing on cables. Fourth, they spread diseases. As an asthmatic, I am sensitive to rat dander. And what if my wife were to get rat fever or hanta because one of these creatures bit her without cause? They do that, you know. So, I am a hero!

I have nothing against rats--in their own habitats. If I ran across one in the forest, I would leave it alone. After all, I am in their territory. Besides, who am I to deny a meal to snakes and weasels? If it were a squirrel on my patio, I would leave it alone. Heck, I would even feed it. Since I am not in a roof unit, I know the little cutie is not trying to get in my house. I will admit, I feel guilty. Even though rats are among the lowest form of animal life, it is a life nonetheless. Most of my guilt comes from the possibility that this was someone's pet. After all, I see plenty of rats working in the city, but the only time I see a white (or non-gray) one, it is in a pet store. Still, considering the rat's behavior, it learned immediately how to live in the wild--if it were domesticated. Do you know who I really blame for this? My cats. They look out of that window every night and did nothing to scare the rat away. Felix would only stare at it. Smokey, the local street cat (or let out for the night) would have had a Thanksgiving meal with that rat, but Felix, and sometimes Tangaray, would scare him off whenever he comes to call. But they have no problem with a rat! Whatever happened to their animalistic instincts? Would it have to come inside for them to do something? Lazy bums.

I notice that no one responded to last week's question about whether I should continue this blog until a vaccine is approved or end it with the year. Please reply and let me know how you feel. 

--Signing off.