...The Rats Will Play

One of the most memorable movie soundtracks is the music at the beginning of Jaws, where we are introduced to the shark. The only famous person that I know I have less than six degrees of separation from is the musician who played the tuba on that soundtrack, which was the theme for the shark. He was Tommy Johnson, my sister-in-law’s uncle. 

And one of the most iconic lines from the movie comes later when they are after the shark, where Roy Scheider's character says “You’re gonna need a bigger boat.”

That classic line popped into mind this morning when I got up and saw the mouse trap. Last week, while I was sitting the recliner at 4:45 a.m. with my coffee, reading my morning devotional, I caught movement in my peripheral vision and watched a mouse scurry across the living room, in front of the couch, and into the kitchen.

And the old maxim, where there is one mouse, there is usually another, proved true. I caught the mouse the next morning and a couple of days later I caught another mouse.

We have found this style of mouse trap is very effective at trapping mice – better than the spring type, which they tend to ignore. Peanut butter is put in the insert that fits in the back, the mouse goes in the front to get to the peanut butter, steps on the plate, and the door slams.

I did not catch a mouse this morning because the trap was dismantled overnight. This is the work of a pack rat, which was clever enough to pull out the insert to get at the peanut butter.

The idea of a pack rat running around the house is alarming.

We are definitely gonna need a bigger trap.

Play Time

Our trash is picked up once weekly on the frontage road. It is much too far to carry them, so one of us drives the trash bags up there as they accumulate. A few days ago, I carried a trash bag to the truck so Richard could drive it up to the trash can.

The bag was heavy, and a couple of times it drug on the ground enough to tear the bottom. An empty tomato sauce can fell out.

I didn’t pick it up (bad Leilani! Bad Leilani!).

Friday afternoon, as we were at the counter preparing some vegetables, I saw a rabbit hop down the driveway and go over to the can and start messing about with it. At first, Richard thought maybe it was trying to lick the dried tomato sauce.

Then we realized it was playing with the can.
 
The rabbit picked the can up in its mouth and sort of dropped/tossed it, and then picked it up again, turned in a circle, sort of dropped/tossed it again. This went on for about 5 minutes before it lost interest in the can and decided to sample things to eat in the front yard.

My brothers and I and our neighborhood friends used to play “kick the can” when we were kids. When I mentioned the rabbit to my baby brother in a telephone conversation, he thought perhaps the rabbit was having its own version of “kick the can.”

Lots of animals play. I guess rabbits do too. It was hilarious to watch. It did our hearts good.