Trapping...

This is the subject most in 'vogue' at our house these days! The older boys have set traps in the river to try to deplete the beaver population that has taken up residence there lately. The first several days they went diligently checking the traps, and couldn't figure why they were getting anything...till they discovered the safety was still on! We won't tell who was responsible for this! When they got it set properly..they caught one on Sat.

And the little boys...have set a trap...of sorts...in the little shop by the house. They thought a 'big' rat was digging in the trash bags that are stored out there till the load is big enough to take to the dump. Sat I heard them talking about setting a bucket with a board up the side...but no success. So Delvin was telling Kylan the other night that he had emptied something and piled the stuff beside it, then put some smarties in the bucket... Musta worked. Yesterday morning, Delvin came beaming in the house carrying this foot square plastic container with 2 mice in the bottom, all nicely taped shut. Wondering if he could take this to school!!! I am like, I DON'T think so! Then came the tears...so I said, you go ask your Daddy! That always takes care of it for me! In the meantime, Geneva poked her head out her bedroom door with a comical face, wondering what was the subject at hand. I said would you have appreciated that offering coming to school?!? Her quick reply was not really! Well, thankfully his Dad also vetoed the idea.

At lunchtime we were comparing notes, and he had actually caught 3 mice, and one got away in the transporting to the container. Ryan also discovered that he 'stashed' then up by the firepit while they went to school! He thought that maybe we could suggest that Delvin feed them to his cat, and he would enjoy watching that process! Well, when I first gave him that idea, he thought that would be cruel...but I explained to him the fact that it is all part of the food system! Tried to go on to explain that this is what was tearing up their bags, and how much of a nuisance they really are! I also told him that really it was kinda cruel to keep them in the container too! At supper we discovered that he did indeed feed them to the cat.

Oh in the meanwhile when he came home from school, he said Miss Darlene said that it would have been ok to bring them to school! Ivan did talk with her last night, and she was fine with it, he hadn't realized they were already history at the time! So he texted her this morning and said they wouldn't be coming after all! In the meantime, in the house, Kylan even got into the spirit!! He came in all excited...they caught 4 this morning. So they were dutifully packed in the container of yesterday, and transported off to school!! Ivan retexted Darlene, then even called Mr Korver and said that he hoped it wasn't the wrong thing to do, and wanted him to be aware of what was happening, so no big boys tried their powers of what ever, and that they won't have loose mice at school!!

Just before they left I tried to convince Delvin that maybe he should go ahead and feed 2 of the mice to the cat this morning, since the container might be kinda small for 4 of them. He emphatically informed me that he only feeds the cat once a day!!!