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Ellen Sandbeck
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Ellen Sandbeck

Ellen Sandbeck is an organic landscaper, worm wrangler, writer, and graphic artist who lives with (and experiments on) her husband and an assortment of younger creatures -- which includes two mostly grown children, a couple of dogs, a small flock of... Read full bio

Author Revealed:
Q. What were your previous occupations?
A. Baby sitter, roofer, housecleaner, landscaper, waitress (two hours), graphic designer, worm wrangler
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OUTTAKE #12, A Charming Little Story
By Ellen Sandbeck - August 24, 2009
A friend shared this charming little story with me after she read the “Toilet Rats” section of Organic Housekeeping: One cold winter day, a woman who lived in Superior, Wisconsin surprised a rat in her toilet bowl. The startled rat climbed out of the toilet, whereupon the homeowners chased the dripping rat around and around the house. The creature finally dashed out the door and climbed the nearest tall object, which was a metal clothes pole. The wet rat froze to the metal pole. Sewer rats follow plumes of food waste back to their origins. If you would rather not find a rodent swimming in your toilet bowl, don’t dispose of food in the garbage disposal, and never flush food down the toilet. All the wastewater exits a home in the same sewer pipe.