Shared Storage

Each fall we get visited by Bushy-tailed Woodrats. They leave their "calling cards" on Wayne's chaise pad, and help me harvest the last of my veggies from the garden and pots. They are so organized that they nibble plant stems and then pile the leaves to dry before storage. When we know one is in the area, we use our live trap and work out
a relocation.

Just above the high water line, John built a wonderful shed for us to use to store those things that don't fit into the cabin. He even gave us a window, just to see what might be going on outside. Of course, we have to be careful what we put inside. One reason is that the woodrats think it's there just for them.

Woodrats are notorious for taking and hiding bright shiny objects. When I clean the shed after an invasion, I'm always finding objects from the shelf mixed in with their food items. This time a yellow paint brush was placed on top of the dried weeds. What a decorative flair they have.

When I took the woodrat's cache out, I found lots of dried ferns, moss, and salal berries. Mixed in, it looked like some of my lettuce and sage. I felt bad about destroying the cache of food, but our shed isn't the best place for the mess. Fortunately, woodrats are known to create multiple food caches surrounding their nest. Losing this one shouldn't make winter devastating. -- Margy