Man and Boy

Yesterday we were menaced by a dead rat in the street.  Bear was watching the rat's remains with interest.  'Wow!' he said.  'That crow is standing guard over the dead rat.'  I think this sort of gruesome fascination is perfectly normal from an eight year old boy, especially as he was watching from a safe distance through a window.

To be honest, I'm all for kids accepting that nature is red in tooth and claw and where do they think their burgers come from.  However at this moment I didn't feel like working through the stages of rat dismemberment and crow arguments, so I was very relieved when DH took charge as the man of the house and got the rat on a shovel and threw it over Matalan's fence.  I have had a long talk with my friend eBay and some sonic rat scarers are on their way.

Image of attempted murder taken from Wiki Commons, taken by Bombtime and used under the Creative Commons Agreement

I'm missing having a cat.  There is a lovely one that has been sleeping on a mattress dumped in next door's garden.  He (definitely a he) is completely black, completely composed and completely aware of how handsome he is.  A cat would be no good against a rat but I would have appreciated the cuddle.  I went out to get a picture and he gave me a very offended look, a mouthful of swearing in cat and stalked off, offended.  I hope he hadn't eaten sick rat as his back legs looked a bit stiff.  Or it could have been kipping for hours on a mattress in a south facing garden.

Bless - lovely to 'see' you, so glad you stop by.