New Species Moved In With Us

I went to the garage to get in my car to go to the grocery store, and spotted a new species...I had thought we had raccoons in the garage based on the large dirty footprints on our almost new sofa which is temporarily there while we're doing some remodeling. Also, a finger was missing from my garden gloves which probably smelled of compost that the raccoons love. The other day I thought I heard an animal in the garage when I was leaving for work in the morning, but I looked around and didn't see anything. I thought it was a raccoon, but now I know what it was...a rat!!! Today I saw it scamper across the shelves, with its long tail. At first I was a little freaked out, but then I remembered, rats are nice people. I've started calling it Panya, which makes it seem more like a friend and less like an intruder. You see, Panya (not sure I'm spelling it right) was the only other rat I've known. Panya was our friend's pet rat, who used to sleep with her at night on her pillow. Unfortunately, my camera trap's flash doesn't work anymore, but my dad, a.k.a. Camera Trap Codger, has made me my very own camera trap, which I'm sure will give much higher quality photos. I'm waiting for it to arrive in the mail, and then hopefully I can lure Panya with some bird seed. Other things to note--I saw a hawk being chased by a crow the other morning. This morning we got a dusting of snow (although flowers are blooming), so I hope it didn't have any delerious effects on the tadpoles.