Creatures are stirring, and they ain't mice

Rats. We have rats in our house. Already they have destroyed several items of Maus's (sigh) cookware, infected a large cabinet, and locked down the attic (the insulation up there looks like a giant poppyseed cake). Plus, one of them has completely ruined a major appliance. Major.

We've already purchased a replacement which arrives tomorrow. The plan is to fill the old one with cheese to get as many rats in it as possible before the Albert Lee guys haul it away.

Shmool has taken no action as of yet, though we can hardly fault him as his recent ailments have really taken the wind out of his sails. When I try to explain the situation to him, he gazes back at me with Dubya's My Pet Goat face. Sad.

We did call in a professional hit squad, and the house now has more booby-traps than the Cube. (I avoid them by staying in one room as much as possible.)

The cavalcade of grandparents begins this week, so over and out for the holidays. See you on the other side (in the big black of January).

I leave you with this broad face and little round belly, that shakes when he laughs, like a bowl full of jelly: