Aug 9 - 15

I think the pet rattlesnake was a success. The chickens were getting tired of the rats out in the chicken coop and stopped laying eggs, or at least stopped laying eggs there. With the rattle snake I got more eggs than I had gotten in a year. Unfortunately, the snake moved on and chickens stopped laying eggs again.

We did finally catch the rat inside. He or she had been running on the kitchen counter and had gotten into the bread box. So my exterminator guy put bread on the trap and it worked. We are now rat-less inside and rattlesnake-less outside. Kind of a dull world.

I want to thank everyone who came to the spaghetti feed to help wildfire victims. With your help we raised $5000. Channel 3 and Channel 40 came out and did a story on it as well.

Thanks again.

Through COVID, Fires, Smoke and Drought, we must stick together.

Aug 2 - 8

Everyone has tried to help me catch my pet rat to no avail. I tried the electronic zapper, given to me by Kathy (thank you) with no luck. Pest control guy told me to put peanut butter on a trap but don’t set it for 2 days and then set it on the third, with no luck. The drums didn’t seem to help (it must be deaf). So my attention is now on my new pet that just might eat the rat pet.

So my daughter calls me over to tell me there is a large snake coiled up behind the door where I store the chicken feed. A rattlesnake is usually very aggressive and this snake was very tame. So I assumed it was a gopher snake (they all look alike). So I go out there 5 more times and this snake doesn’t move, but does keep sticking it’s tongue out.  So this morning I go out to clean up the chicken coop and that makes him or her mad. It stands up to attack me, which upset me since I thought we were now friends, and there is the rattle.  Ok, I think to myself, now my rat problem in the chicken coop is taken care of and then I bring him into the house and viola’.

Oh, and I just took my son to the store and had him get as much pineapple as he wanted. This ends the unsuccessful scientific experiment.

Jul 26 - Aug 1

Ok, so with all new pets there are always complications. Where they poop, is usually the biggest concern. This one likes to do it on the washer, which of course, makes my life with my wife very uneasy. The other problem with our new pet (I should come up with a name, but I just can’t think of what you call a rat), is he or she does not like the Disney channel and makes a lot of noise under the sofa while I am sitting on it. Of course, I was watching Ratatouille, I think he or she got jealous that that rat was being treated special. 

Now, for the saga of the lost pineapple cans, I think my scientific background has been as useful to me as it was to get me into the restaurant business. I think now I will start binge-watching every episode of NCIS. Today I found 2 empty cans and 3 lids in the backyard. Well, at least he is getting outside.

Jul 19 - 25

It seems we have a new pet. We have had all kinds of wild pets. I mean when a bobcat eats your pet he becomes a pet. When an owl eats a pet he or she becomes a pet. Well, now we seem to have a pet rat. This rat does not like the new paint color in the new laundry area. So he or she appears to be eating all the paint near the floor. I always wish my pets were dumb pets, but alas, I only seem to acquire extremely intelligent pets. So when the exterminator comes out and says no problem catching your new pet, he was so wrong. The new pet knows about mouse traps and glue boards and poison, and he or she laughs at me when I peer into one of his new holes.

I know how to get rid of him, I will tell my son that the rat is stealing our pineapple cans, and he should put his amplifier by all the new holes when he plays his rock music. I mean it would get rid of me.