Is it a full moon?
Have they been drinking some Mountain Dew?
Has someone fed them red food coloring?
Are we on Candid Camera?
Because the animals in this house have gone crazy.
We all know what happened to the dog…
And pretty soon I will blog about the coyote…
But it all started around here yesterday morning. The kids came storming in to inform us that there was a groundhog… or a really big squirrel… or large chipmunk… maybe a skunk… or a possum… in the shed. Jp instantly went for his pellet gun. They were pretty sure it was a ground hog.
Imagine, JP and I stalking a wild animal in the shed. See four children… “Helping”
Add flashlights and a pitchfork, and you might get a good mental picture.
When we finally all calmed down enough to get a good look, it was indeed an animal.
It was a fluffy tan CAT! We had to move a ton of stuff out of the shed, including a broken riding lawn mower with flat tires that the cat was using as its panic room, but we finally shooed the cat.
It then ran around the house, and right into our garage.
We have caught glimpses of her, but that is about it. We can hear her running about. We see the stuff she knocks down.
Later that afternoon, JP called me into our room where his beloved little mouse lives in her cage. “Sylvia” is a white mouse with black spots and a excellent temperament We noticed that she has been acting strange, but we finally discovered why. It seems there were TWO young BROWN mice in her cage! Please tell me how this happens?
How does a single WHITE mouse get baby BROWN mice in her cage?
We do hide Sylvia in the garage or the shed when Grandma comes to visit, but could she have gotten pregnant in a cage?
Could a field mouse have given birth to them on her cage?
We were baffled. We put the entire cage into a rubbermaid and left it until the morning.
This morning, I noticed the absence of chirping from the front room, and I soon discovered that poor Freddy had finally joined his three previous wives in Bird Heaven. If anyone (like Julie, Joanna, or Lorrie) remembers that last bird death in our home you will know why this worried us as parents.
Just imagine the wailing.
After the bird crisis was contained, JP went to our room to discuss the mouse problem. He lifted the top of the cage off, and I had the bottom of the cage. Well, little baby mouse decided he didn’t like that and he jumped right out of the cage, ran across our bed and disappeared.
Call in Manchild to help.
Three people chasing a two inch mouse.
Phone rings. My mom (who is terrified of mice) calls from MO. I knew I couldn’t tell her about the escapee because she would have a heart attack, so I had to just keep chatting.
I sent in oldest girlee. Trying NOT to alert little kids.
More chasing.
Eventually, I return to the hunt and the four of us are chasing tiny rodent. Under the bed, behind the dressers, behind the chair, Up, down, back forth.
Our tools consisted of a roll of wrapping paper, a used Priority mail box, and a Road Ranger Cup.
Tiny little Mickey got caught in cup more than once, and escaped.
After a wasted hour, and the destruction of our bedroom, tiny mouse was finally caught in Road Ranger cup.
Tiny mouse siblings were then taken to the woods and let free to live as mice should.
This is my life.
And I wouldn’t trade it for the world.
