"Mark Thorson" > wrote in message
...
>A recent alarming phenomenon has been the appearance
> of rodent droppings next to my bed. I found two
> the day before yesterday, and another one yesterday
> the latter of which could not possibly have been there
> on the previous day. This is alarming because it
> indicates a repeat visit.
>
> This is not the first time I've been invaded by rodents.
> Mice, rats, and squirrels have all been successfully
> killed here by cats or traps. The fecal material was
> unusual in that I did not recognize it. It was
> definitely not rat, mouse, rabbit, or squirrel.
> There was a gopher in here once, and it bit me, but
> that was when I had cats. It was a birthday present
> dragged in by the cats. I don't have cats anymore
> because of the coyotes.
>
> This fecal material was long and thin, brown-black
> in color. Likely a rodent, but not a rodent I've
> previously encountered. It wasn't until today that
> the mystery was solved.
>
> I don't usually cook up a batch of wild rice, but
> on a whim I bought a bag a few weeks ago. I spilled
> a little on the kitchen floor and tracked it into
> the bedroom. I didn't recognize it as wild rice
> because I probably haven't bought wild rice in
> 20 years, plus I'm rather prone to leap to the
> worst-case interpretation of the evidence. Repeat
> night visitation by unfamiliar rodents, for example.

Oh, that's pretty funny.

When I was a kid, my dad made a carnival game for a Halloween party. It
involved a huge box with a Jack O'Lantern on it. My mom made some bean bags
stuffed with white rice. The object was to throw the bean bags into the
mouth of the Jack O'Lantern to win a prize.

Long after that carnival was over, those bean bags were still laying around
the house.

We got a little puppy. My brother was playing with her when he spotted what
he thought were little puppy teeth all over the floor. He ran to my mom and
told her that Misty had lost her teeth. My mom remained calm and told him
that puppies, just like little kids would lose their teeth. But my brother
persisted and told her to look and see how many she lost! Turns out she had
been chewing on a bean bag and broke it open.