Rosenbaums 1, Rat 0

We found the rat, and yet another nest it had. We thought we were down and we were hoping that the rustling sounds Josh heard in the morning in the bathroom were just squirrels on the roof. No such luck. The little bugger had managed to trap itself between two joists in the kitchen, right where we needed to take the drywall down for the plumber. (I'll spare you the details of the failed trap down in the basement, but see the skeevy comment below and you'll get the idea.)

However this time, once we opened the ceiling the rat had no way out (it was trapped in the joist over from its old nest area and beyond its travelin' hole between the basement and the 1st floor). After trying the scare it out of the ceiling into several plastic bags and waiting plastic tote, Pete's Pest Control came back and invoked the nuclear (i.e. sticky tape and drowning) option. So we now have a big hole in our kitchen ceiling, we're down a rat (good news) and we're skeeved out as Josh would say (or has said many times today already). Classic bit was when Pete came over, stuck his head up into the ceiling and said, "Wow - that's a really big rat." Josh: "Not to be offensive or anything, but that is just about the worse thing you could say." If Pete said it was a big rat, well, it was a big rat. About 9 inches, sans tail.

If this is not "the" rat, then I am moving out. Or, we are tenting the entire house and invoking the real nuclear option. I seriously hope the next holiday on the calendar is rat-free--frankly, I'm starting to miss the squirrel.