…for mice.
We live on several acres and are too far from the barn for them to all congregate there. So every year around this time, Nama sees a visitor~ either around her door or making its way into her lower level space. For all you newbie Girly Musers, Nama is my mother-in-law and she lives in our walk-out basement. (Hello and welcome, by the way.)
She’s seen a critter or two this year. And inside I feel terrible for her, although she doesn’t seem to mind too terribly much, but I also feel huge relief that I’m not having to deal with them in my living space. Well, last week, one made the venture into our area. It was a Sunday afternoon, Nate was napping on the couch, Greyley and I were watching something on TV, when Greyley suddenly yelped, “There’s a mouse over there!” Sure enough, a teensy mouse scampered across the floor.
I totally became a squealing woman. So did Greyley. We woke Nate up and he chased it around. We squealed with every dash the mouse made. I was impressed with Nate’s lack of squealiness. He did jump a time or two with the suddenness of the mouse’s movements, but remained rather stoic, I must say.
It brought back memories of other mouse experiences…
Back when our Yorkie, Alex, was alive, he could scare a mouse into playing dead. It was something to see. I can still see him corner them, his movements becoming all herky jerky~ sort of like Nate last weekend. heehee
Our old house was also on a little over an acre and we had a few episodes with mice there too. Once, a baby one ended up in our fireplace and did a little show for us~ she stood up on two feet, scampered to and fro, I think I even saw her wink at one point…adorable.
Then there was the time Nate had put something out to keep them away from our storage area in the basement. Greyley was just a little thing~ 2 or 3~ when her cousin came over and they went to play in the basement. Greyley had a few larger toys down there. We were upstairs in the kitchen and listening to the cute little singsong voices of the cousins playing together.
“Oh, little baby monsters,” their voices sang. “Baby monster…” this and that…
Isn’t that darling, I thought.
I’m not sure when it clicked with us, but all of a sudden, we had a moment of horror. Nate ran down with lightning speed and they each had a baby mouse up to their faces. The mice were barely hanging in there.
It gives me full body shivers to this day.
They survived.
We told Greyley that story last night and SHE had full body shivers. She said she’s never using her hands again.
I’m not sure how long she’ll be able to carry that out, but…
At the moment, I can’t help it, my eyes are prowling my surroundings for any tiny balls of downy hair. I might be a mite jumpy. Stay outside and I will love you, dear mice. Come in and I can’t say what I will do.
And while we were waiting in the office, Greyley said that as much as she wanted to keep him, she knew we probably couldn’t for the sake of our loved ones. Man, I love that girl.
