Thursday, November 09, 2006

Big Rat

Hey...I have over 1000 posts. Wonder when that happened? I'd consider it a lot, but I think She Says did six in one day not so long ago.

I saw a big rat in the company parking lot today when I was leaving to take Eryn to the doctor. I mean the thing looked almost like a bloated football and it was just wandering toward the back door through the parking lot, teetering along until it could get under a car. I pointed it out to another guy, and my uncle-in-law (who was strangely leaving the building at the same time I was), and the other guy questioned whether it was a rat or some other beastie, like a muskrat, and eventually decided I was right.

After reading that book on parasites, I can't help but think maybe it wasn't fat from digging in the company dumpster, but rathre because it was full of parasites that were bloating it up and affecting its brain, tricking it into walking very slowly and erratically across a dangerous parking lot on the off chance that if said, bloated, juicy rat were squished into lot kill, many other animals would eat the remains and carry the parasite on to its next host and stage of development. That thought kept me very far away from it. I don't want to be the vector for what basically looks like the beginning of some undead zombie disease movie (undead zombie parasite in this case).

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I think if it was football sized and rat-like, especially at this time of year, it was probably a possum making its way through your lot.

They do actually like to hide (especially during the late afternoon & dusk hours), so that would add to the mysterious animal's profile.

Yes, I know you're saying, " I know what an f-ing rat looks like", but it did take me a double (maybe triple) take before I recognized the possum travelling through my backyard this spring.

Take my assessment for what you will, but beware the possum!!! (most dramatic eh?) Oh, and I think you may have watched "Shaun of the Dead" too many times...