Showing posts with label rat. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rat. Show all posts

Sunday, February 18, 2024

Sunday Randomness #187 : Dogs and Rodents don't always mix...

B cornered the rat, barking ferociously in the early morning hours when they went outside for a bathroom break.  The rat was trying to escape through the gap on the top right between the cement and the wood.  But it was B-B that snatched up the rat, and in one swift chomp, it was dead.  Mego saw most of this happening and got the rat away from B-B with a bribe of cheese and was able to scoop up the rat's body with a shovel and tossed it outside the fenced area.
 
We didn't know that B-B was a rat killer-constantly learning new things from our animals.

In a lighter moment-the pups after going out in the falling snow.

B-B looks a bit thin in this picture but it's an illusion.  He was a healthy 75.5 pounds at his recent vet visit.



Thursday, October 17, 2013

Author #112: A new take on an slightly old poem by Julia Donaldson

Alfred Noyes first published his poem, The Highwayman, in 1906 in a Scottish magazine.  Julia Donaldson published The Highway Rat in 2011 with illustrator Axel Scheffler.  Julia's version makes us laugh, Alfred's version makes us cry.  And Loreena McKennitt's song of the Highwayman is one of the most simpatico examples of how to  bring poetry out of obscurity.

Ms. Donaldson's book is a clever new take on the poem with the romance portion now between a rat and food.  I love how she starts the book:

 "The Highway Rat was a baddie.
 The Highway Rat was a beast. 
He took  what he wanted and ate what he took.
 His life was one long feast." 

 The book chronicles the Highway Rat's food thievery-he wants something sweet to eat but gets all manner of other food instead of treats.  This is definitely a book worth reading to find out the humorous  and "poetic" ending for the Highway Rat.