RATS! I was perplexed as to why, in a dairy with grain so readily available, as much as a rodent could ever want, they insist on eating my wires instead.
I’m like “hey, I’m giving you free food, could you at least be respectful towards my property?” But I don’t speak rat any more than I can Swahili, so communication is limited!
So far, in just the past few months, the damage bill has hit about $10,000.
And while I had set up about 15 rat bait stations around the dairy, in one of my least intelligent moves, they were placed all the way around the perimeter of the shed, not in the centre, where there are loads of important wiring.
Never ones to miss an opportunity, the evil little rodents had been building their nests in my wiring looms.
I’ve been reading rats like to chew things such as electrical wiring because their teeth are constantly growing, like cats’ claws, so chewing other stuff like my wiring helps them control teeth pain, and keeps their teeth in shape (so they can chew more of my wiring).
I don’t want the rats in pain either, mind you – I want them dead.
Thieves! One of the great things about having 20km of river frontage is we have a diverse range of native animals and some great habitat for them, as well as terrific camping spots with generally poor fishing.
One of the downsides of having 20km of river frontage is I have had 50 people ask me for firewood in the past two months, and I simply cannot say ‘yes’ to everyone, so I find that really hard to knock them back – but at least they have the decency to ask.
There isn’t much timber there anyway, but we do have some great patches of bush which need to be preserved as habitat.
Essentially the old rule of leave it better than you find it still applies, and we believe the Little Murray is an underrated community asset.
I don’t want to be the mongrel who padlocks gates, but then sadly, if people keep stealing firewood, I don’t see a great deal of options available.
Vandals! The other advantage of padlocks would be putting a small barrier in the way of idiots.
Such as the ones we had come in on a motorbike in the middle of the night recently.
This is like 2km off the road, on private property – our private property.
During their hooning through our property, they tipped a fuel tank into an irrigation re-use system, cut all the wiring, took the dipstick, oil filler and radiator cap and threw them in the water as well.
And capped that off by smashing two vacuum pumps, stealing a battery, at a guess about another $4000 of damage, but really, it’s just the inconvenience, we have enough issues without having more inflicted on us – by two-legged rats.
Beer! I had a great conversation with my 13-year-old this week (who has never had a taste of beer), he casually informed me he was going to drink lots of alcohol when he gets older.
Not that light stuff, he said dismissively, more like the proper heavy beer.
He then continued in their vein with “and if by some strange chance I find that I don’t like beer, then I am intending to try every sort of alcohol there is until I find one that I like”.
“What’s brought this on?” I asked.
“Well, it seems to me that alcohol is one of life’s great adventures – after you turn 18,” he explained.
That made me smile, and it’s always important to finish on good note.
