Bloody Sunday

I was still sweating heavenly even after taking a cold shower to cool off from my 45 minuet run with Matt to Yerbas Buenas and back. I then stepped outside to get some fresh air and see what all the commotion was about. Standing at the side of the house was five guys holding machetes in their hands. “Come check this out,” they said with much enthusiasm. Everyone was huddled around, looking intently at the barbwire pile as someone was pulling it away from the side of the house. Just then someone shouted, “There he goes!” as a big fat rat ran out and along side the house. Three guys go running after it while swinging their machetes wildly at it. In a matter of seconds, the rat is now headless thanks to the great aim of one of the guys. Triumphantly they come back to the pile of barbwire to await the next victim to emerge from their home. The didn’t have to wait long until the next one weaved its way though people’s legs, headed on the same path of doom along the side of the house.
It was just as much entertainment for me watching the event, as it was for the guys chasing them down and killing those pesky creatures with machetes. Then someone suggested that I should be photographing this occurrence, in which I quickly got my camera and did so. It was great fun taking action shots with my new camera. The results were quite gruesome, with mice and rats getting their heads cut off, stomachs cut open, and their insides falling out. Not to mention, blood staining the ground. Some of the rats were able to spare just a little bit more panic time, making it just around the corner of the house before being slain by the mighty warriors. There was a couple though, that was even more lucky to make it around the corner and into the house where the doctor and two other people were having a meeting. What a site it must have been to be sitting at the table talking and then to have this rat come running though the doorway with people chasing it with machetes.
Interestingly enough, out of all of the mice and rats, only one ran in the other direction. Of course there was still the occasional one that would run over someone’s feet, but it still ended up going in the same direction with the same result. The ending statistics were pretty good as well. It was estimated that about 20 rats and mice were killed on that bloody Sunday morning. Though one could not be exact, for there was many in the pile that had become halves. Only one mouse that we know of that got away under the house. We do know that there were others that escaped, because we still found droppings on the kitchen counters in the mornings, but not as plentiful as before. There were also still a few surprised meetings between a mouse and the person walking into the bathroom after the event as well.
The whole experience was quite memorable; especially for Andrew Viscara, whose birthday was on that day. The leader of the blood bath was Eric, with eight killings, who was also credited with the finder of the nest. Next in totals, was Daniel with five, then Andrew, Matt, and another Daniel each had a few slices of their own. Me? I just enjoyed the show and took lots of snapshots to aid in the memory of that bloody Sunday morning.