Vacation Rats and Relaxation

Sure, rats and their little flea friends may have killed off one third of the population of Europe a couple of centuries ago, but in our house we let bygones be bygones. We choose not to dwell on the dearly-departing of what was probably a rather significant percentage of our predecessors, but rather to live in the freedom of forgiveness and peace. Rats are our friends! Or at least they became so for a quick week a few days ago.

The family of one of L's friends at school has a similarly open-minded tolerance for those previously plague-ridden rascals. They have a pair as pets, and when they took their spring-break vacation they needed a rat-hole in which to relocate their resident rodents. Having succeeded so valiantly in our adoption of Mitt the Newt over the last couple of months, we felt we were ready for that crucial amphibian-to-mammal transition.

Snuffles and Spotty were welcomed into the family with much joy and ceremony. They came with a fairly large cage, an assortment of food-stuff, and a rather long list of do's and don'ts which Stacy dutifully memorized. Friendly and curious, our esteemed guests were treated to numerous romps in the bathtub (an ideal place to let them shake a leg). Never ones to sit still and always looking out for higher ground, any offered hand, elbow or arm would quickly serve as an a up-ramp straight to your shoulder. A few seconds of dedicated shoulder snooping would lead to a scratchy crawl up the back of your neck and soon you'd be sporting a rat-chapeau. From the peak of your person the little mountain climbers would sit and scan the horizon, all 360 degrees, looking inevitably for the next road UP!

Considering the price of a good
toupée these days, I might actually
be on to something here.

The kids and I had a blast with our temporary pets, allowing them full run of our laps, shoulders and heads. But it was almost as much fun to watch the involuntary shiver run down Stacy's spine every time she's see a rat shoot up that of one of her kid's.