It's War

I have declared war.

If you are an animal person or an anti-war activist, you might want to stop reading now.

Rats have invaded my back yard again, tunnelling under the foundation of my shed and taking over my bird feeders. But they didn't stop there: they have set up shop under my back porch in my basement. They have bored enormous holes near my back steps and are burrowing around the foundation of my house. That's over the line. So at the behest of my beautiful wife, I have unleashed the arsenal...

I now have SIX Victor spring traps - Made in USA. I baited them with peanut butter, chicken and refried beans.

This is the pitiful scene under the porch. You can see how they have chewed through my foam barriers, so now notice the glue traps and poison.

This is one place the foul creatures have made an entrance.

This is a rabbit trap baited with chicken. I am not playing.

Two more Victor traps by the basement door...

I'll keep you posted on my progress...

Winter

The other night I walked my dog over to a little park on Monticello Street at around 11 pm. It had to be about 5°F or so, and I was reminded why I love winter so much.

In the park there was about 15” or more of virgin snow. No one had been there for days. I had my big Sorel boots on and my long johns under my clothes, so I was up for a bracing plunge down the park trail. It is something else to break trail – to walk in the heart of Chicago in a place no one has touched. It is sweet and purifying and exhilarating to breathe the coldness of the air and see the sharpness of the stars and feel the bite of the wind on my face.

Perhaps the most amazing thing about the deep cold is the remarkable experience of having the city to myself. Nobody was out. No drivers, no gangbangers, no pit bulls to make my Yellow Lab nuts. On every street I walked down to get to the park – and back – it was just me and my dog. The cold quiet was enveloping and comforting and life giving. Think of it: In the ‘hood at night with no noise and no crowds and no concerns – just the cold and snow and quiet.

God knows my soul’s love for the wilderness. However, that is a life I am not called to. So He gives me a little piece of it once in awhile in the most unexpected of places.

The Rat Saga Continues...

Steve - 2
Rats - 0

SUCCESS!

In my last post on this subject, I was sharing with you, my faithful readers, how I set traps in my shed to try to catch the rodent population that is taking over my back yard. You must imagine my surprise when after several days I still had no customers, despite using peanut butter.

Then I realized... they were not coming into the shed because I had so cleverly sealed up the grass seed and bird food for so long that they had left that neck of the woods.

Still, they are building a subway system under the foundation of the shed, near the bird feeder, so I knew they remained a problem.

I realized I needed to revise my strategy... I needed to place the trap outside, near the entrance to their nest.

Needless to say, it worked. I awoke this morning to a FREAKIN' HUGE rat, quite dead next to the trap. There was a bit of mystery to make things interesting, however. Somehow this freak of the rodent world managed to get out of the trap. But he didn't make it far, as these images will show...

Aahhh... life in the city.

Rat Hunting

Consider this an update...

Some of you remember my old, whimsical post about rats. Well, September is here again and the time has come to get the little critters out of my grass seed and bird food. We go through this ritual each fall...

Tonight I set my traps with peanut butter by lantern light in my shed.

I'll keep you posted.

The Kings are Coming

We're having a little trouble in my neighborhood these days. The Latin Kings are attempting to move in, or maybe back in. It's not that the Latin Kings are necessarily worse than the gang that's already here, but rather the transfer of power that I'm concerned about.

This is a picture I took tonight of the viaduct a half-block from my house as I was walking my dog. The graffiti was not there two days ago. ALKN means "Almighty Latin Kings Nation" and "MLDK" means "Maniac Latin Disciple Killers". And they're serious... they really do kill each other. While the politicians pontificate about more gun laws, broken young men in broken homes and broken families kill each other instead of playing baseball together and nobody seems to be asking why.

But we know why. Broken people break things. And we're broken because of sin - generational sin, institutional injustice, personal immorality, sinful choices, and our innate depravity.

Of course the Gospel addresses this powerfully.

Will we take it to the streets?