You may remember my recent
"old biddy tyrade" ~ Well, I did it again - this time on the radio!
One of our local radio stations is a (pretty conservative) talk radio station - they have several local shows throughout the day and they play Rush, Bill O'Neal, and my my favorite consumer champion,
Clark Howard. But they also have a Liberal Talk Show - "From the Other Side" at 6:00 in the evening. As that is generally when I'm on my way home from work, I listen frequently - last night he had a fellow called "Andrew Lopez, The Invisible Gardener" - all about organic gardening and natural pest control - He was kind of an interesting fellow, but I about died when a guy called in about the fact that he had found rats around his house -
specifically the one he had caught under a bucket. Now, this well meaning caller didn't want to
hurt the rats, he just wanted them out of his yard. (I'm thinking to myself, Is this guy out of this mind? - Kill the little rodents!)
Now, Mr. Lopez did have some good ideas about using essential oils (specifically cinammon & lavendar - aparently rats don't like those smells - we'll have to try that) but then when the caller asked what he should do with the one he had caught already Lopez told him to "
take it out to the country and let it go" ! "H - O - L - Y Cow," I say to myself, "What is this guy thinking?" And of course, I couldn't remember the station's phone number and by that time I was home anyhow, so I just headed in the house. But here is the email that I sent to that talk show host this a.m.:
"Hey Joe -
I take exception with yesterday's guest telling people to catch the rats in their yard and take them out to the country. What had this guy been smokin?
#1 - If your caller was able to catch a rat with a bucket, that rat was probably either sick or had been poisoned - do you know how fast a healthy rat can move -you're not going to be able to catch it by plopping a bucket over the top of it. The guy should have whacked it with a shovel or something - (what happens when he gets it in his car and it gets loose from the box he would have put it in - the guy gets excited and drives off Marine Drive?)
#2 - I don't want people from the city thinking that they can catch these little critters and drop them off at our farm out in the county - People already think they can do this with cats - I'm sorry, I don't want their cats either.
Just my two cents worth. Tina T-P (who lives in the county ,where we dispose of our rodents responsibly) "
I got a very nice email back from Joe saying he thought I'd made some great points, and TA DA - he read my email on his show this afternoon. What a way to waste your 15 minutes of fame - ha, ha, ha.
Neelix says "Don't worry mom, I'll keep those rattys away from here!"
