Today, I toodled out to the compost box, half way though making my spaghetti. Absently, I pushed the lid aside and dumped in my bowl of veggie scraps. And then… from the corner of my eye… movement.

I leapt back, empty bowl raised as a shield, and peered at the box. No movement. Probably I had imagined it.

Like a ballerina with OCD, I tiptoed forward and lifted the lid with my fingertips.

RAT!

I screamed. The rat ran (into the neighbor’s yard, thankfully). And the environmental quotient of the Kyi household went drastically downhill because there’s no way I’m going to be independently composting in the near future! Although, I have been successfully, rat-lessly composting for three years now. And I was digging out compost dirt on Saturday, so it is theoretically possible that I knocked the lid askew without realizing. But still… a RAT! With a long, slinky tail. It was probably spreading the bubonic plague around my back yard.

If composting happens this week, it’s going to be a group activity. And I’m wearing full hazmat gear.