The Wild

Sometimes Alpharetta is wild. As in, wild animals. Peculiarly, for such a tiny backyard, we see our fair share of wildlife. Remember the baby possum in the backyard, that my Mom set out to capture? I just searched for that post, and could not find it. In my mind I recall a picture, a story... wow. Is it getting that bad? Maybe it's on the first site.

Well, this week was worse. Labor Day grilling was planned, and the ribs were seasoned and ready to be grilled. I came downstairs, and instead of seeing Rick relaxing on the deck, grill smoking, I see him scurry by wearing his work gloves and carrying a big stick and a rake.

You must know where my mind went first, when he rushed past and said "You don't even want to know what's going on out here." First I thought, well, yeah I DO, and second I thought: snake nest. If there's ever a bad news scenario involving wildlife, I am always jumping to conclusions about slithery creatures. In a way, it made the word "rat" seem not so bad! See, weigh those two out: snake-big-enough-to-require-big-stick-AND-rake vs rat - not so bad, right?

Only, guess where the rat was living? IN the grill. It had built a nest out of trash and leaves, and Rick saw the trash and thought "Those darn kids, poking their trash into the grill." Then the pile burst apart and a rat started racing around the grill. Ickity-Ick! ICK.

What you really want to know is this, though: did we cook the ribs on that grill? Yes, yes we did. On foil. After scorching it with flame. Flame kills all ick, right? They were the best ever.

I don't think we'll ever close it again. It will probably rust, propped open to prevent further vermin colonization.

Ick.