The little fat guy

Friday morning at work we had a surprise. The ABE Center (Adult Basic Education) had an unwelcomed student trying to get some education. His name was Mr. Ondantra zibethicus. He was a fat little guy that waddled as he ran. He came in to get some coffee and decided to do a little chute running since he was in the position to anyways. We got the little guy outside and he ran away, never to come back again.

Translation of story:

Mr. Ondantra zibethicus is actually the scientific name for the Muskrat. We had the doors propped open because the building was a little warm. Apparently the muskrat thought it needed to come in and warm up. It was sitting under the coffee stand, so a couple of the guys mocked up a chute to shuttle the little guy outside. The muskrat was a chunky little thing. Unfortunately they were able to get him out of the building before we could locate a camera to get a picture of him. Here's a general picture of one for those of you that don't know what a muskrat looks like.

They are about the size of a very fat hamster. I had to call Eric as soon as I got back to my office to let him know. The first thing out of his mouth was "you let it go?" I knew he was going to say that. He's been trying out a few muskrat traps this winter on his trapping excursions.