Rat Trapped

This is not a delightful post to read so I will warn you at the beginning in case you’d like to come back tomorrow.

My husband and I were in our kitchen today, talking to each other and having discussions with the children as they ate their snack.   Suddenly I heard a repetitive thunking sound.   I rotated around to place it and realized it was outside in the direction of the air conditioning units.    I immediately prepared myself to be both annoyed and frustrated because something had gone wrong with the unit.    We had had difficulties in the past, including mechanical issues as well as frozen blades during the winter.    I didn’t know what it was and I prepared myself to not like what I found.

I pulled up the blinds on the window just above the units and said to my husband, “stop the unit, we have an animal caught in the blades.”   We’re not sure what type of animal it was, because by the time we got outside and had been able to cut off the blower fan, it was unidentifiable.  

The fans blow air upwards at the top of the unit and a grate covers the upper edge.   Whatever it was had gotten caught between the blades pushing it up and the grate blocking it from exiting.    Did it fall off the roof and have its tail caught and pulled forcibly through the grate?   Was it somehow inside the unit and got whisked upwards?    Whatever it was, it happened fast because it was quiet one minute and a mess the next.

My children were interested in what had happened.   We don’t hide things like this from them, so we explained and animal had gotten caught and that the fans were dangerous.   My son asked if the animal had been killed and we said that yes, it had and it was very sad.   They were fine with that explanation and went back inside.    My husband was not fine with the state of the unit and had gone to bring the hose around.

When the fan stopped the animal dropped to the bottom of the unit, in visible sight, in a mass that told me there was fur, but not much else.  We decided to not take apart the grill to get to it and just let it decay naturally.

The Big Boy Update:  I told my son it was a full moon last night.  He immediately ran outside and barked and howled.   He told me he heard a fox talk back to him.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  My daughter told me today she knew what we’d get dad for his birthday present.   She said we could get him, “cereal, crackers, celery, rice and broccoli.  I’m thinking about broccoli.  I love broccoli.  And pretzels.   Goodbye!”

Fitness Update:   We ran a half marathon this morning in nice crisp air.