Super Boy and Bandit

Am I the only homeschooler with a kid who does his schoolwork with his pet rat?

The Siege Has Ended: Alleluia

Rob finally turned the sofa upside down, tore open the bottom, reached in, and pulled out Junior.

She is now residing comfortably in the Rat Skyscraper. There is one problem though. Maggie, Princess Rose's pet rat, isn't too happy about having a new roommate. Miss Maggie is currently in time out in the corner. (Actually, in the traveling cage.)

It isn't enough that I have to play referee to the little people who live here, now I have to play referee to their pets.

Maybe, I should play some John Lennon for them. Give Peace a Chance!

Day Five: The Siege Continues

Junior continues to live in the sofa. A couple of homemade traps only scared the wits out of her and she's barely peeped out since. I bought a live trap from Lowe's and she managed to get the food without setting it off.

I think God is trying to teach me patience and perhaps a few other lessons.

St. Martin de Porres Pray for Us!

My friend Margaret Mary writes:

Do you know the story about St. Martin and the little creatures? According to the story, they were eating the bed linens at the convent. And someone wanted to get rid of them. But he talked told them to stop eating the linens and live in the barn and he would feed them there, and they did. I don't know if it's legend or fact, but I do know that he's known for his love of, and ability to deal, with the animals. I love him for his charity and gentleness with people, and his love of God.

I guess we need to get St. Martin praying for my rat/sofa problem!

Day Three: Under Seige

Today is the third day of our sofa being occupied by the pet rat Junior. This is causing me some mental stress as well as some marital discord.

I'm all for picking up the sofa, turning it upside down, and shaking the little bugger out. However, my dear husband, being the animal-loving Franciscan he is, doesn't want to cause poor Junior any distress.

Twice, the younger children have caught Junior, but only for a second. They let her go when she fought to get away. I guess she really loves my sofa.

So, I've decided to do what any good self-respecting homeschooler would do: create a unit study.

Each child will be assigned to design and build a humane trap. Grades and Carnegie credits will be given for the successful completion of this project. The learning goals include planning, architectural design, trigonometry, working as a team, rat psychology, and Christian love for all of God's creatures even icky pet rats.

Trips will be made to the hardware store and library. Surely, google searches will take place. I wonder if Wikipedia has any articles on the humane capture of rats.

This is what homeschooling is all about. Let the fun begin.

The Saga Continues

Junior continues to set up her apartment in the sofa. Oh well, I was thinking about buying a new sofa anyway.

In fact, she's peeking out right now. If I move to capture her, she'll only run back inside. I have a little bowl of water in the corner of the couch for her, lest she get dehydrated.

We tried putting food in the carrying cage and then tying a string to the door. The plan was to coax her into the cage and then pulling the string, locking her in the cage. It didn't work. She's a child and much faster than Rob's middle aged hands. The kids are too impatient and end up scaring her before she gets into the cage.

I went to Home Depot to buy a habitrap. I told the sales guy, "I need a trap to catch a rat without hurting it." I wonder why he looked at me funny. They only had live traps for little mice and for huge squirrels. Nothing in between.

I'm open to suggestions here (aside from moving out and leaving the house to the pet rats, please).

The Continuing Saga of the Pet Rat

We still haven't captured Junior, but we know where she is. She's living in our sofa. There's probably enough crumbs in there to sustain her for a month.

We had company over and I had to tell them, "I'm sorry, you'll have to sit on the love seat as there is a rat in the sofa."

This is my life.

Thank You St. Isidore

And thank you prayer warriors! My computer is miraculously working again. My friend Linda B. called and said to try unplugging it and then replugging it in. I told her I already tried that a couple of times, but what the hey, I could try it again. It worked!

Now I have a new prayer request (warning: not for the squeamish). Sparky got a new rat, Junior, to replace the late great Sandy. I told the kids not to touch her and leave her in the cage for the first few days, but Princess Rose couldn't help herself and took Junior out for a visit. Unfortunately, the princess let Junior get out of her hands. I now have a rat loose in the house. I'm not a happy camper and not too excited about going to bed.

You all came through on the computer problem, now I'm counting you to come through on the rat problem!

Death of a Rat

While the world wages war, life with it's trivialities continues here.

This week, Sparky's rat Sandy passed on to rat heaven. It was quite the ordeal. It became obvious in the late morning that Miss Sandy was in trouble. She was lethargic and weak. The kids called Rob, who in turn asked me to take the rat to the animal hospital.

I knew that if I took her in that all they would do it euthanize her. I instead called my friend Linda G. (not Linda B.) who is a vet. She came over and examined Sandy. Her prognosis was that Sandy's life was at an end but insisted on doing everything to save her life.

Linda gave Sandy a shot of penicillin and warmed her up in a towel. She then took her home to give her fluids intravenously. But Sandy took her last breath as Linda put her on the heating pad on her kitchen table. Linda then applied CPR. (Yes, for real!)

I am so grateful for friends like these. She brought some peace to my little children, as well as Rob, knowing that nothing was left undone.

Sandy has been properly buried and eulogized.

On a completely different note, I'm off for Easter vacation. Blogging will be little to none for the next several days.

May you all have a very blessed and joyous Easter!

Sparky and His Pet Rat

After meticulously editing his essay and seeking his father's advice on capitalization, Sparky has asked that I post his literary creation on the blog so that the rest of the world may benefit from his words (I have changed the names to protect the innocent):

Sparky's New Rat
By Sparky

Sparky asked his dad for a new rat. Dad said yes. Sparky named his rat Sandy.

Sandy loves her ball. One day Sandy got out of her ball. Dad and Sparky looked everywhere. They looked under the couch. But then Sandy popped out of one of the cushions and then they grabbed Sandy by her tail and put her back in her cage.

The End

The Blessing of the Rats

Being in a Franciscan parish, we had the blessing of the animals this last Sunday. It's an event that we attend every year and this year was no different.

Teen Daughter didn't want to go as she was afraid of being embarrassed, with good reason. But she was a good sport and went anyway.

When we arrived a few minutes early there were already about ten of our fellow parishioners there. All with dogs.

We pulled up in our blood-red, full-sized van, children poring out of every door, each with a different pet in tow. Rabbits, mice, hamsters, rats. Some in carrying cages, some in plastic balls, and others simply in hand.

As we approached the blessing area, one of the elderly parishioners exclaimed, "Oh my God, they have rats!" She and her puppy moved quickly away from us. In fact, about half of the parishioners shied away from us. I don't think that these folks will ever look at the Wittmann family the same again. We've gone from the nice big family to the kooks with rats.

It probably wouldn't have been so bad, except that the boys removed their rats from their carrying cages and let them crawl all over their shirts. I would've scolded them, but it was Rob, the Rat King, who put them up to it.

The rats and other wee animals were sprinkled with holy water and blessed by Father. I can't say that their new holy state has warmed my heart to the rodents -- I still keep a safe distance from them. But it made the children happy.

Well, except for Teen Daughter, who, along with her rabbit, was terribly embarrassed.

The Rat Skyscraper

As soon as the Fed Ex guy delivered the rat skyscraper, the kids were on the phone to Dad. He took his lunch hour and came home to put it together. This cage is truly a skyscraper. It would be like a 6,000 sq. ft. house to you and me. These rats are living in luxury.

The funny thing is how the kids, and Rob, love these rats. Rob has been dubbed the Rat King and the boys, the Rat Princes. Even sweet little Princess Rose loves cuddling with the rodents. Ick. I suppose I've been prejudiced by those rat movies of my youth: Willard and Ben. Then there's the icky Templeton of Charlotte's Web. And all the examples of real live vermin. Double ick.

But I'm told domesticated rats are nothing like their vermin counterparts. In fact, I'm also told, that if you're going to have small animals, domesticated rats are the way to go. They're smart, trainable, and very social.

Maybe someday I'll come around. I don't think I have choice.

We Have Rodents!

Pet rodents that is. It all started when we were visiting in St. Louis some months ago. My sister offered one of the family hamsters to Tween Daughter, who in turned begged me to let her bring the hamster home with us. Taking the easy way out, I told her to call Daddy. I knew that Rob would tell her absolutely "NO." After all, following the death of our last parakeet, he put his foot down and said no more small animals. He was tired of burying parakeets and flushing fish.

We came home with a new hamster.

Lesson learned: Don't take the easy way out.

Back to my story. After six weeks or so, Hamster Wamster passed onto hamster heaven. Again, Rob put down his foot. No more small animals. We already have a cat and two rabbits (all live outside) and that's enough.

Yeah right.

Somehow, Buster talked Dad into letting him have a rat. Yes, a rat - eek. Sparky then jumped into the fray. If his big brother got a rat, then he should have a rat too. After all, rats are social animals and are happier with a friend - ick. So, off to the pet store they go. Tween Daughter and her friend Toyota (not her real name) tag along. Toyota got permission from her grandma to get a pet mouse while at the pet store. Then TD talks Dad into letting her replace Hamster Wamster with a new hamster.

Are you still with me? They came home with 2 rats, a dwarf hamster, and a mouse. After a day, the mouse came to live at my house. Toyota's grandpa came home from his fishing trip, saw the pet mouse and said, "No way Jose!"

Oh, there goes the doorbell . . . it's the FedEx man with our new Rat Skyscraper. I'm so excited.