Doing wildlife control work and being a farmer I can tell you for every rat you see there are 10 more. Rats have always been with man and can live and thrive wherever people are, and unless there populations get large enough you will probably never know they were there. I cant tell you how many homes Ive been called to over rats and the people are upset because they believe you have to be dirty to have rats, but as folks know in the big city this just isnt so. That is why the rodent control industry is a billion dollar industry. Ive found that a good poison program is realy the most efficient way to deal with these critters, folks around farms, and public places like the Universities are always going to have larger than usal rat populations, the food and cover these areas provide are a welcome mat. Dont know Ive told you anything you probably didnt already know through your stdies but this is my 2 cents josh

Wow it seems like me and you have a lot of the same! It has been in the 90's and hot here and now it just got more humid. I have a single dad taking care of 4 fledged babies! I also have a cooper's hawk and my neighbor kept putting out seed. This coopers shows up every day terrorizing the birds. When I hear blue jays,black birds, killdeer, and swallows giving alarm calls I know it is around. Just today I scared it from the other yard...guess where it headed...straight towards the babies! It landed in a tree next to them and they were totally silent...looser left with empty talons! Let us know what happens!

I don't have a ghost story, only one that makes you go "hmmmm". My best friend from college, Robbie, comes to WI to visit about once a year. He grew up about an hour from where I live but now lives in California. About 25 years ago, Robbie's older brother married a wonderful gal named Kay who quickly became a dear SIL to Robbie. I met her a couple of times and she was a sweet, down-to-earth, funny, loving person. The family was devastated when Kay was diagnosed with brain cancer, but she survived for several years and went through several treatments before passing away. She and her husband had one son. It's been about 15 years since Kay's death and every time Robbie visits, we talk about finding where she was buried, since Robbie would like to see her grave. He didn't remember much about the cemetery or church, so a few years ago, during his visit, we walked for about an hour through a cemetery about 10 miles from my house, since Kay and her husband lived in a small town near here. No luck, and Robbie's details are so vague, I didn't think we'd ever find the grave. Well, last fall he visited and I asked my boss if there was another cemetery in another town nearby. I didn't think there was, but she told me about one. We went there and as usual, Robbie thought this was "the one" and said he vaguely remembered her grave being near the back of the cemetery near the perimeter fence. We drove into the cemetery and found it to be very large. We drove down the main road and Robbie looked and looked for anything familiar. When we got to the end of the road, we could see that the perimeter fence was a ways away and the graves weren't even close to it, so he was doubting this was the right cemetery, either. Well, he told me to turn at the corner and then finally he said to pull the car over so we could just get out and look around. I hadn't even had time to get out of the car before Robbie checked out the closest headstone and found it was Kay's. It still amazes me and I'm certain that we had some kind of "help" finding the exact location after all those years. Here is a link that might be useful: a lucky break or what? :)

Always a treat to hear about your 'babies', Caroline. We're on round three of Cardinals -- if the young ones a-courtin' now lay eggs. We have mature arbor vitae around two sides of our lot -- and some privit that they seem to favor. I was drawn to the creek last week by calling between a pair of (I think?) Flickers and their four 'kids'. (Whistling cries; spotted breasts; red 'gorgets' on their necks.) They were searching for insects on tree trunks -- and probably finding plenty of emerald ash borers. We have some big tree removal bills coming up!