NORWAY RATS ABANDONING NORWAY

When I was a kid I was very impressed with our cat when one day she saw a huge spider walking across the room, going to pass right in front of her. I was fairly sure she hadn't seen one before. She sat and watched it calmly and interestedly and then as it got in front of her, just put out her right front paw in a sort of experimental way and plonked it down flat on the spider. Then she ate it.

My cat does the same, though I don't know if he eats them, or not. Somehow, spiders affect a different part of a cat's brain than bugs.

Milly was a lovely cat. We had her as a kitten from the lady next door when her cat had a litter. When she was still a teenage cat (in cat time) she started bringing dead birds and mice that she had caught to the back door, and laying them out in a neat row. Then she would mew at us until we went and looked at them. My sister and I wondered what our mother would say, since we knew she was a bit squeamish about things like that. To our surprise, she told us that Milly thought she was bringing us wonderful gifts, and that to avoid hurting her feelings, we needed to thank her politely every time she did this, and pretend to be very pleased, and take them indoors. Once they were out of Milly's sight, we could wrap them in newspaper and get rid of them discreetly. To this day I do not know if my mother was teasing us. I once saw Milly leap in the air and capture a bird that was flying about a metre above her head. I did not need to pretend to be impressed, as I truly was.

There is a certain lack of police dogs for searching drugs and it takes a long time to educate them. Also they cannot get into every little corner, but cats can. Now the Swedish police has started with Police drog search cats.

Your mother was right. It is a gift that a cat brings.

And if you find, at your back door, a neat row of gazelles, get a new pet.

Remember today's date.

For how long?

Normally until midday, although some countries don't follow that tradition, and printed/online text just keeps on giving.

After midday 13:22
One paper had that a Viking grave was going to be dig out and please come with you spade and help.
Around noon time the police called the newspaper and told them to go there and tell people it was an april fool´s joke.
The journalists with photographers rushed out - not a single person around.
A double joke!!!!

That is VERY funny

I know (knew) that; I meant that I don't know if my mother was serious about the need to thank the cat and act as if very pleased and grateful for the gifts. It is true that Milly never tried to eat them. It was if she considered them our property.

Since we have so many cats, we have no mice, rats, or snakes around our home. Maybe in our neighborhood. But our cats seldom ever brought home treasures for us other than the best parts of large grasshoppers and house lizards (gekkos)...

We did have a mouse (not a rat) a few years ago that used to sneak out onto the patio and steal cat kibble from the bowl. I timed it to come, steal, and scamper off about every 180 seconds, so I figured its hole or burrow was close by. Sometimes it did its thievery right under the bemused cat's nose. Cat (sometimes cats) would just watch the audacity of the thing... It always came and went unmolested.

It first began when it was very young and small, but by the end of the season it had grown to a rather large size, almost rat-size, but it was definitely a mouse. I figured the increased protein and nutrition in the cat food accelerated its growth.

I called him "Mighty Mouse" (it was a he).

One night I saw Mighty Mouse actually asleep in the food bowl. I poked him with a stick and he sluggishly got to his feet, looked around, then ambled off home.

A few nights later I found a bloated Mighty Mouse dead inside the food bowl...

We switched brands of cat kibble that day and never went back.

I am only surprised you didn't take him to a mouse specialist to help with his obesity.

I would have written the kibble company but I think they would have told me their food was not meant for mice.

Do it, anyway. All our food, medicine, and cosmetics are carefully checked to be sure it's safe for lab mice and rats.

I did that with a lizard resting at the bottom of my bureau, using a glass jar, and a gentle "out you go. I gather people easily live with lizards, but they are new to me.

I have rattlesnake fear and black widow fear, have lived/worked around them for years, off and on. Fear gets in the way. I know nothing of scorpions and they are said to be here too. I'm not a screamer, so I'd probably ask one of the neighbors re what to do (perhaps leave them alone?). Or else I'd faint in the sand and get stung..

Oh, my, that is interesting..

I kill black widows on sight, unless it involves damage to the house. The only rattlesnake I've seen in the wild was in the Everglades, and that was circa 50 years.

I would help a lizard outside, but not because I would resent their presence. Cats are as rough on lizards as they are on spiders. Anyway, even my home doesn't have the kind of ecology that would support a lizard.

You might remember my describing finding a black widow nest in the bells I had put up by the back door for Pacco to nudge me to go out. (I still have good bells, from some world type company.)

My reaction was to take the bells to the sink, thus the widow showed up. I killed it somehow, me busy freaking. I think you told me some time later to do something about water, but now I don't remember, and probably still have them about anyway, as they live here..
Sometime after that I found one in the pot I was trying to raise some tomatoes in.