Recently, in the midst of a remodel that's left lots of holes in our kitchen walls, we had an uninvited guest -- a dark-brown Norway rat who, on the first night alone, helped himself to a pretty impressive chunk of watermelon and also carried off the rubberized lids of my toddler's sippy cups.

Taking the easy way out, we decided to move all the edibles into the dining room for the duration of the project. That worked for a while, until one day we noticed some big holes gnawed in a bunch of bananas. Somehow, our friend had invited himself in.  more...