The first thing I saw as I stepped out the back door this morning were several or more members of the FDSP, a sub-section now dubbed the Fort Doberdale Rat Posse being they were hunting one. I think it’s that blasted papaya tree rat. It was under a tightly packed bunch of folded boxes, which are wrapped in plastic and up on 3-inch planter stands. This is for when the big day comes and the house sells.

Meanwhile, the entire FDRP was on one side of this stack, and what comes out the other side and towards me? The rat! It was a fat rat! OmG! I think it’s a pregnant one. The only Posse member who saw it was Luigi, and I’m on the fence as to whether he’s a Rat Posse member or not. Believe me, he’s not THAT much of a ratter. OK, he did follow it. Not by moving his body, though, by moving his head. He then took a minute – a long minute – to sniff the spot it walked across. This stalling procedure, I believe was insurance that he wouldn’t have to actually touch it for reals.

The rat waddled. It was HUGE! I could hope it was all the papaya she snorts in, but I am saying neigh neigh neigh to the coin dropped into that wishing well. That thing waddled right through all the yard paraphernalia in its path, and under a slab of concrete which my air conditioning unit sits on. There was a hole there. Now there is a concrete brick against the hole, my brave self managed to put down while sweating thinking that rat was gonna jump out and bite me. It didn’t.

All I can say is the FDRP need a lot of work on their tracking and hunting skills of non-squirrels. They do really well with blimps and squirrels, but when it comes down to ground varmints, their tracking skills lag behind. It took them minutes of sniffing the box pile to realize the trail led across the path to the a/c. By then, I had the hole blocked. I am hoping that thing stays under there where she will rest in peace forever. The owl who owns the territory in this area, including my back yard, is remiss over this papaya eating mama, and I’m going to have a talk with it next time we meet.

Besides rats, we have ticks here at Fort Doberdale. I’ve been spending the last few weeks working on this problem. Today, I rounded it out by stopping at Home Depot for yard spray being the dogs and the house have been treated. The customer service dude told me that ticks have been a big problem here for the last 3 years. Would that coincide with the hurricanes? Or could it be a combination of my new mulch and wild varmints and neighboring kitty cats and the rodeo arena we visit? Whatever the case, it was a day of shopping and spraying, and worst of all, inhaling that stuff. It’s done. I hope to goodness it works. Those ticks love my old mann … Regis.

And Luna is really peeved about the whole thing. She hates ticks as much as anyone. Yes, she does.

Later on, it rained. This was a pleasant surprise as I’m always looking at innocent ways to get back at Little Big Pants Raven for the daily torment she puts me through.

One of her favorite things to do is barrel out the back door. So I put her in her crate, and Regis in the bathroom, and Luna in another crate when I open the back door for play or potty time. This is because these three are the most obnoxious going out the door. Raven just wants to be first. Luna wants to chase Bouchard and bark at him like a nagging pain in the neck. Regis gets out the door, turns around, and barks at the boys. If Bouchard doesn’t get out first, he can’t get by. Regis also snaps at passers-by. The old geezard.

So when I saw the rain, hahahahaha, do you think I went through all that trouble to put away those rascally ones? Nope. I opened the door and said, “Let’s go!” Luna and Raven were first out, and the only ones out. They did an about-face several steps out and were back over the thresh hold about the time I really got going on my laughfest.

Ahh, yes, Karma. She’s out there waiting to come out at the right time…just like the moon.

Nature and Her workings are beautiful things.

Helen