Thayer wrote earlier about a bushy-tailed woodrat that we caught in our cabin. As he said, we released him at a nearby (yet unoccupied) cabin, hoping he would make himself a new home and stop pooping on our couch. We also found the hole through which he had been entering our cabin and plugged up the indoor side of the hole. Unfortunately, there have been some recent developments with respect to these cute little rodents. Last night, Thayer and I were sitting on our couch when a very brazen woodrat walked through our kitchen and hid behind the stove. To make a long story short, we thought we had it cornered, but it jumped up the stairs into our spare bedroom. Armed with flashlights, headlamps, brooms, and trash bins, we scoured the room from top to bottom before discovering yet another hole in the wall. We determined that this hole and the closet hole are the two interior holes that connect (through the space in the wall) to one exterior hole. Thayer devised a clever ramp that would allow woodrat #2 to escape his hole but not get back into it. Then we used a bunch of aluminum foil and a 2x4 to close up the exterior hole. For good measure, we placed a Sherman live trap (baited with Nutella and oatmeal) in front of the exterior hole. We thought that this would be the end of the rat saga for a bit. But no....
As I was opening up our cabin doors this morning, I checked the hole barrier and trap. The barrier was still in place, but the trap was....gone. I climbed around the side of the house, where I found a very heavy Sherman trap sitting on the grass. Opening it, we found a very confused woodrat. We think this was the woodrat we relocated in our past post, who was trying to get back into his cozy house. Both the trapped rat and the relocated rat were blind in one eye, so we strongly suspect them to be one and the same. He was pretty cute, but the trap was far too small for him (we're currently trying to locate some larger live traps). So, after we got him out of the trap and into a trash bin (where I took this picture), he jumped (about 2 ft. straight up) out of the bin and ran into our wood pile. Oh good, yet another woodpile inhabitant.
Oh, and I baked some bread!
This was the basic whitebread recipe from Betsy Oppeneer that I mentionned in the last post. I made it with some whole wheat flour, and it turned out very well, if I do say so myself. It's fabulous sandwich bread.
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