The rat is still in the compost. He jumped up again when I was watering it down. This time I was able to see where he went, and when I squeaked at him in my best rat voice he actually stopped and came back, perching on top of the wooden, rafter-like beams above the compost bin, probably thinking to himself, "you ain't a rat, so why the hell you squeaking?".

The boys have completed their second day of school, and seem to be enjoying it. Jen took Lexy this morning, and later on we all walked Nate to school. The girls managed to displace all of the water in several puddles outside of his classroom, laughing and smiling all the while. And getting very muddy, of course. Next time we'll stop them before it gets so out of hand. But dammit, it was so cute.

There are signs up in the neighborhood warning people about local coyotes. It seems that the partial remains of several cats and dogs have been found littering peoples' yards. The town paper had an article about it as well. Gives a whole new meaning to the term "pet food".

No new news on the job front. And to make matters worse, it's supposed to get hotter by the weekend. That's insult to injury. Poor and sweltering. At least the nights are cool.