Rats!

Sharan, my mother-in-law (who reads this blog. Hi Sharan! Hope you don't mind me sharing this. We about died laughing), sent us this e-mail last night and I couldn't help but share. It may be funnier if you know them (turns out Aaron does a really good impression of his mom) but still a good story.

The grossest thing just happened to me. We were sitting outside
eating dinner when I felt something on my foot. Since I had a pair of
socks on, I couldn't tell what it was and thought maybe it was dad's
foot, but it didn't feel quite right. I looked down and there was
this fat rat sitting on me. Imagine the scream I let fly as I tore
off the chair about two feet off the ground. The rat moved about 2-3
feet away and just sat there. Dad had to chase it off the lanai. Then
it sat in the grass a while and finally ambled off into the jungle. I
immediately drove to Long's and bought 4 rat traps. On my way home I
was thinking how I wished I had a pellet gun or a big shovel to smash
it, since it didn't seem scared at all. When I got home I went to
look outside, just to make sure there was no food left out. There it
was again--on top of the table eating either my place mats or crumbs
from dinner! Dad was going to chase it away, but my killer instinct
said we could get him. There was a big push broom by the wall so dad
hit the rat with it and maimed it just a bit. It fell onto the chair,
then to the ground and tried to get away. There followed a whacking
pursuit, with the felon finally being done in just as it hit the edge
of jungle terrain. Victory. But still so gross. Now I'm left to
wonder if there's a whole family that might come looking for its mama
or papa--no idea or concern about the rat's gender, nor is there
sympathy for its demise. Some people actually buy traps that won't
injure the rat and then drive several miles away to release it--not me. Kill.