Houdinni in the garden...

Over the past few weeks in the garden, I have showed up each morning to notice teeth marks on the eggplants as well as large bites out of them. In a sense, it didn't really bother me because I can't stand the things. But, because others apparently like these purple masses, I finally decided it was time to enact a counter-assault on the Hopital Fann/Dakar rats.

This past week, we have caught a few rats in our metal traps. It is kinda like waking up Christmas morning and running downstairs to a ton of presents under the Christmas tree. Well, here, it is taking a 45 minute bus ride to work to find a rat or two in a cage, but exactly like Christmas.

This morning, we had two rats or as Sanè,one of the gardeners and I call them..."xarit u Lope". That means "Lope's friends". Lope is the other gardener in the garden. Lope is not too fond of these nighttime beasts, so today, he tried to drown them in one of our water barrels. I'm sure the humane society or animal rights activists would not have appreciated the sight, but after a couple minutes trying to figure out his approach, Lope dunked the tank in the water and left it there. Through this process, the cage door managed to open and the rat scurried to the surface scarring the heck out of Lope. He took the hose and tried to beat it, but it was too fast. Lope tried to chase it, but the rat ran in my direction for some reason, about 20 feet away. I tried to beat it with a shovel, but it managed to run through my legs with its long tail hitting my ankles.
Finally, it went and hid in our shed.

Through this entire ordeal, those watching the work in the garden from the balcony of the Infectious Diseases Ward were laughing hysterically. Lope and I joined in as well. Despite one of the rats getting away, I suppose it is the price one has to pay for another enjoyable day at the office.

After all of this, I did decided that I would no longer wash my hands in the barrel Lope tried to drown the rats in.