Thursday, August 7, 2008

Not for the faint of heart


So, I wanted to take Adler swimming yesterday to try out his new floaties. We really don't have a place to swim, so I take him to a pool at the old apartments E and I lived in before we bought out house. The complex doesn't allow families with children to live there, so its mostly elderly and the pool is ALWAYS empty.

So anyway, we got there and there was debris in the pool, which I assumed was from the storm the day before, and I didn't really inspect it that much. Ad and I got in and played for about 10 or so minutes. As we were playing, I looked down and saw something funny on the bottom of the pool. Upon closer inspection, I discovered it was a dead rat! And then, immediately, I looked to the right of Adler and I, and there was another rat, HAAUUUGGGE, and alive, swimming about 1 foot from us. I don't think I have ever scrambled as fast to get out of the water.

I think this may just be the most traumatized I have ever been. Needless to say, Ad and I went home and folded ourselves into the dishwasher and set the cycle on sanitize. I thought about it all day yesterday and just feel so dirty inside. I am still very unsettled about it. I get sort of a sick feeling when I think about it. A rat is bad enough, but a wet rat peddling his little rat hands and sticking his pointy little rat head out the water right next to me- well, it was the grossest thing my eyes have ever seen. And let's not even start on the dead one in the water- what if I would have stepped on it? I didn't, but coulda.

I called my sister and am so appreciative that she overreacted as I did. I needed someone to recognize the horror of the situation. I called E and he had the AUDACITY to say he felt sorry for the rat because he knew the rat would swim and swim until he just gave up. He also snuck a lesson in there about checking the drains and gutters before getting in--ggrrrrr. I wanted shrieks of disgust and horror and comforting hugs. That's E for you though. You can only count on sisters and other girls to overreact in situations that need to be overreacted.

You can better believe I will be checking those drains from here on out (but not in that pool- I am never ever ever going back there.)
PS- my rat wasn't as nice looking as Splinter pictured above.
PSS- It wasn't "my rat". I don't know why I said that.

11 comments:

Wilson said...

Oh my gosh!! I would have died. So glad you saw it and realized it before you had been in there a good while. So yucky! Did Adler even know to be freaked out?

Anonymous said...

Eeeeeeeeeeeek!!!

Oh, thanks a lot... now I'm scared to go swimming in my pool after dark when I can't see if I'm the only one... or thing... in there...

p.s. I am sooooo glad you saw the rat before he got to you... you know he thought you and Adler were lifeboats, right?

p.s.s. you can come visit me and swim in my pool all you want... unless somethin' gets in later today, it's safe... and if somethin' does get in, your Uncle Mike will get it out...

Ashley said...

I know- I thought about Ad's float being a good refuge if only the rat would have been smart enough to know it too- thank goodness for that!

And, no, Ad wasn't freaked out- I tried to maintain my cool in front of him, he just kept saying, "yuck, yuck, bugguu"

Anonymous said...

lol... you're a wonderful mommy... i can remember the time, and not so far distant, mind you, that I sat outside on the porch steps til somebody else got home to get the wasp out before I'd go in... but whenever you guys were babies and you were visiting me or I was visiting you... and I was faced with wasps or other nasties, I'd present this brave heroine exterior that would just walk right up to them and brutally take their lives from them... you probably know now just how much of a wimp I was on the inside... lol...

Anonymous said...

There, there, sweetie...
That was so horrible. You must be so traumitized. Probably in near shock.

Here, have a cheese cracker. It'll help settle you down.

And for Vickie. Remember when you tried to set the poor little mouse in the trap free? It's a memory I have truly treasured.

Anonymous said...

Ashley, you could have found a net or something to scoop out the live rat. I am not a fan of rats, either; but I would have at least found a way to give the rat a fighting chance against sure death by drowning.

Ashley said...

okay, the next time you enounter a 7 ft. rat and have a little boy who hits the ground running at all times, you search for a net (ps- there wasn't one at the pool) or something else, like your beach bag, to scoop out the rat, while holding a squirming boy in one arm, who at this point is probably screaming because you won't let him go already to get back to swimming.

But, yeah, I do have a tiny teensy weensey bit of guilt about letting it die. But, sometimes, death is a necessary evil. (I'm hardcore.)

Melissa said...

Oh my, I would have not been as good as you I am afraid. I can handle so many things, but rats, really get to me. So glad you are all okay!

Laura Sue said...

It was totally, 100% ok to let the rat drown. He deserved it after the terror he inflicted on you. If there had been a net nearby, I probably would have used it to push him under and hasten the process, not to scoop him out and let him go on parading his nastiness around the world.

P.S. I love all God's creatures.

Anonymous said...

Hahaha, Laura-- I fell out over your PS. That was funny.

Anonymous said...

Laura, I know you have that same wonderful love for God's creatures named "fleas" now don't you??