This week, I’ve been basking in the glory of my site’s new look. For fun, I even thought of a hashtag (#MDDW because Mermaids Don’t Do Windows is too long for Twitter).

But a shadow has been looming over my glory. Actually, it’s been coming out at night to eat my spinach sprouts. And my seeds.

I’m talking rats, people. Not little field mice. Nope. RATS!

*shivers*

Possibly the most disgusting wild creature in my neighborhood. EVER.

I’m sorrynotsorry that one of our traps caught one the other day. I’m getting ready to set two more traps. Why am I waging war on the rats?

I’ll give you three reasons:

1. The mess they make is the worst. I found rat poop on my back porch–near my back door!–where at least one ventured over to eat my beans.
2. They ate my seeds and my spinach. I’m not growing food to support a rat population.
3. They made a mess in my garden shed. We spend all afternoon cleaning it today. *gags*
   

Why do I set traps that have to be cleaned up after rather than putting out poison?

I do it for the owls, mostly. Owls catch rodents and eat them or feed them to their owlets. Feeding baby owls poisoned rats is not good for the owls. Besides, isn’t there enough poison in the environment?

Have you ever had to deal with unpleasant pests? What would you do to protect your garden?