Oh my stars!

I finally decided to refill my bird feeder. It had been a few days since I had last seen the field rat and I was beginning to worry that something had happened to it. So I figured that I should leave some food out for all the wildlife that frequents my balcony- the squirrels, the birds, and now the field rat.



Paul saw the squirrel run a complete circuit around him and Woton (along the rail, over my bike, near the sliding door, and back across the grill) in order to escape (or attack the food from another vantage point?) from Paul picking up Woton.

Smack the rat

So I came home today and feed the cats, like normal. While the cats are preoccupied, I normally take a moment to water the plants. But as I stepped outside, I saw this:



I drug Wookie outside to see the rat, but neither the rat nor the cat seemed interested. Then I grabbed Whicket, and this is what she thought:



Then Wookie wanted to join the hunt. She actually cackled at the rat, stalked it, then SMACKED it! The rat must have felt cornered, because it did not run off:



Then Woton caught on late. Look at how tall this boy is!



When Paul came home, I told him what had happened (by pointing to where the mouse was when he scared me by screaming, THERE IT IS!). He also mentioned that I should probably keep the door closed, because if the mouse came up to the plants, it would come into the house.

Scary how close to the truth that was!

Whicket the hunter

I was quietly working on some statistics homework, when I noticed my Whicket cat slinking near the sliding patio door. This is what she was after:



Now the question is, is this a mouse or a rat? And WHAT is it doing on my balcony!! I haven't filled the bird (aka squirrel) feeder in months!

The difference between mice and rats is on this link. And you can take a knowledge quiz here.

Recently Wookie had drug this little guy INTO the house:

First day of school

I missed my first day of school because we were in Florida for the shuttle launch, but it was worth it! I did not get to see STS-115 launch, and due to the large number of delays, I couldn't make it back to Florida to watch it go up today. But I heard it was brilliant:



The astronauts will be installing P3 and P4 truss sections of the space station. These sections will provide energy through the solar arrays. Heide and Joe are two of the astronauts that I had the pleasure of working with, and it is exciting to see their hard work pay off. I look forward to the photos and news reports that will be coming up.



Kick some ass STS-115 crew!