It's a rat-trap baby...

...and you've been caught.

Ok, mixing my Boomtown Rats & Stranglers references there. Had a lovely weekend, moving gravel from one side of the property to the other. As the truck driver warned, my two types were indeed gravel salad, but by being careful I'm managing to separate most of the round river stones off into their own pile. And the truck driver, did indeed manage to dump the stuff pretty much where we wanted it.

Unlike the mulch delivery guy, who this time was confident with the instructions we gave him. However, rather than choosing to put the truckload on the spot where the last lot clearly had been until now... he dumped it about 30 feet to the South, right on top of a poor little lemon tree that in its short life has endured indignities ranging from a close encounter with a ride-on mower, to two close encounters with sheep. We dug it back out & while a little worse for wear, it will survive. And it is supremely mulched (like, to about a depth of 5 feet).

The most exciting part of the weekend however, commenced when Wilma & I were taking our morning constitutional around the forest. There's a bit of a hole on one side which over the last few years I've been filling up with debris & stuff. I stepped across it that morning & noticed that the earth was somewhat springy. So I jumped up and down a bit to test it. Then I heard a sound behind me, which was so noticeable that it had to be Wilma coming to see what I was doing.

Except that when I looked around, it wasn't Wilma, it was a rat the size of a badger coming to take a look at whatever was using its home for a trampoline.

And I jumped about 10 feet back, doing my very best to channel Fred Flintstone... "Wiiillllmmmmaaaa!!!". While WIlma was no use at all, this noise & movement did startle the rat & it hared off into a toi toi.

So I left it there & went off to reflect & move gravel. I figure where there's one rat that size, there are probably lots more. War was declared.

An hour or two later I was back.... jumping up & down on the springy bit. And sure enough, out it popped to have a look. This time I had Wilma right beside me. And dependable hunting hound that she is... she didn't spot it, being more interested in some smelly stuff a few metres away. But the rat saw her & disappeared back undergound. Otherwise I think I might have been in trouble.

And so a visit to the Otaki metropolis was in order, and there I bought enough rat poison to kill a herd of buffalo, should one wander by. Big soap sized cakes of weatherproof rat bait. And a big punnet of rat pellets, in case this becomes a long drawn out campaign.

I've had major success in the past with killing pests by poking poison down their lair, so why should this be different? And that's exactly what I did, poked 2 cakes of soapy rat poison as far down the hole as it would go, then retired to let the occupants come to terms with their impending departure from this realm.

Now we wait...