The Ratapocolypse

This morning, I was doing my normal farmish thing, feeding baby goats from huge re-purposed beer bottles while wearing my very teachery work clothes. Suddenly, I heard a large animal scurrying across the metal roof of the barn. From the sound of it, I was pretty sure it was pug-sized. My 6 am brain wasn't sure what to do when I realized that it was headed down a pole and possibly into my goat's pen.

Luckily, it wasn't an evil raccoon, like I'd feared. It was just a rat. Yes, I've become farmish enough that rats being remotely near me isn't that big of deal. On 16 acres with that much pasture and a very open airy barn, rats are going to happen. I expected the rat to see me and make a quick exit. I couldn't have been more wrong. Instead, the rat decided to run closer to me under the parked barn truck parked near me and jump up into the truck's mechanical bits.

Just when I thought things couldn't get any stranger, a second rat followed the first rat's exact footsteps. It turns out the two rats weren't friends. For the next several moments, all I heard were rat screams, metal clunking and scratches. It was so loud, Leda and Valencia even stopped eating to stare.

So that is a new experience I can add to my growing list of things I never thought would happen to me.