The pair of them, Taffy and Napster, were sitting in the middle of the living room downstairs, staring up at the window well. Which, at that hour, was black.
Oh wonderful, thought I.We have a bat in the house. Or a flying squirrel... So up I climbed to check behind the curtain rod for the intruder. Nothing. All was as it should be, which is to say there were no additional animals in my house.
But the dog and the cat remained of a contrary opinion. And then I, too, heard the faint scratching noise. Flashlight in hand, I climbed up again, and put my face close to the glass so I could avoid the glare from the flashlight. Turned it on... and there I was, face to nose with a muskrat that had somehow fallen into the window well and couldn't climb back out.
Beady little eyes. Twitchy little whiskers. Long ropey rat tail. He blinked in the flashlight beam.
When dawn crept on a bit, Dave and Brian came down with a long handled flat shovel and scooped him up and out. The Plan was to put him in the bucket (which they did), and take him to the Lake (which they did not). Who knew that a muskrat could jump and clamber out of a bucket, but not out of a slightly deeper window well?
Off went our water rodent, scrabbling through the garden, no doubt checking his pocket GPS to figure out the best way back to the Lake where he belongs.
Yes, that would get the dog and cat riled up.
ReplyDeleteMy aunt and uncle had a house with window wells. Every once in awhile a toad might get stuck down there, but not a badger!