May 25th, 2012

What an exciting couple of days it has been! Yesterday, my chemistry class tie-dyed our clothing articles (most people had shirts, but some used pants, and one boy did his socks). I had a tank-top, which I colored in a green and blue spiral pattern. It's in the wash as I type this, and it looks like it came out great! Also, because the weather was so fantastic yesterday, I went and sat out in the yard. We have a trellis with wisteria growing over it, and the plant has gotten so huge it casts a wealth of shade around said trellis. Therefore, I sat in the shade, enjoying the wind (which was strong), when I happened to look up. And there, lo and behold, in the crook of a lily and a leg of the trellis, was a little skull. Yes, a skull. It was just over a centimeter long, fully intact, although without the lower jaw, and clearly that of some rodent - it had large buckteeth. I called Nick, the resident animal expert, over, and he was able to confirm my suspicion, telling me that the skull was definitely that of a rodent, and that judging by the large eye sockets, the creature was nocturnal. His best guess, therefore, was that it belonged to a rather unfortunate rat. On some level, I wanted to keep the skull, and yet, as fascinating as it was, I decided that not only was keeping it a bit unhygienic, but the skull also belonged outside, where I found it. I put it back, and left it to guard the property. Today, I went back out to try and get some pictures, but the skull had disappeared! (I suspect Nick may have had a hand in this) However, I still went and poked around a bit, and, to my surprise, I found not the skull, but half of the missing jaw, and another piece of anatomy I couldn't identify. There was also some fur buried under the wood chips which may have belonged to the creature. Most mysterious...