Well, the rat hasn’t jumped ship!

 At least it seems to be locked out of the interior.  We always put the garbage bag outside on the back deck because there is normally something I don’t want a chance that Ellie might get into and it’s usually whiffy, shrimp shells, chicken bones and anything else that gets scraped off our plates from dinner.  There are no signs of the rat being inside but just chewed up garbage bags and scratch marks and hair all over the vent on the side deck that accesses the engine room. David was chatting with a couple of guys that came by and were asking questions about the boat.  One of them asked about all the mouse traps on the back deck cabinet.  David told them the rat story.  Turns out the guy is an exterminator and offered a solution for us.   He said he would come back in the morning and give us these little packets of a certain kind of poison, the rats chew open the package, eat the poison and it kills them, yay!!!!  The second best thing about the little packet is that it also contains some chemical that when the rat dies and

Checking one last place.

Rat lunch.

Mommy Ashley and Harrison.  He had just tooted, and she  is giggling🤪😘

Another beautiful sunset.

turns into a puddle, it doesn’t smell.  That’s huge!  We are concerned about it dying somewhere in the bowels of the boat and stinking to high heaven.  Hopefully David’s new bud will in fact return but if he doesn’t, at least we know what to serve up next.  We tore up one last area to look for signs of a nest.  It’s in the pilot house, behind the settee, which is actually a small bunk for those overnight runs.  There were access panels but no nest, phew.  Sorry there is no exciting travel news, but when you’re stuck at the marina, it’s pretty mundane.