Surprises in the yard!

Well....I admit, I do not have a "Green Thumb" in my yard! (My mother-in-law took all the talent there!) I would love to be able to keep plants alive, but the truth is, I can't! So the best I can do for my yard is throw seeds here and there and hope that they grow, and plant some plants hoping they survive for a few weeks to beautify the yard. I can also pull the weeds that decide they like all the spaces where the plants have died and the seeds didn't grow. So, this past week when I could get outside without dying from breathing fire smoke, I'd pull weeds. Today, the air was so much clearer, that I chose to stay out longer. I pulled weeds where they thought they'd never be found because they had been ignored for so long. Needless to say, I disrupted a happy little creature, too! I expect to find bugs, lizards, the neighbors cats, and even a snake now and then in my yard, but I did not expect to find what I did today........Yes, I scared a big black rat from it's home.....and it scared the eebie jeebies out of me, too! I am not fond of this creature at all! I'm going to have to pay the neighbors cats a little more money so they take care of it!!!! They need to become "ratters" instead of using my yard as their litter box! They are not my friend and this guy is not my friend! But, I'd much rather have the cats!