Today's Musings - Mouse

This morning when I opened my bedroom door, I saw a mouse scurrying across the carpet in our hallway, into the built-in drawer with no front. I let out a little shriek, and Rob, my ever-patient husband said "What?!" "I just saw a mouse!" I said, and described the little critter's path. "Greeeaaat..."

The interesting thing is, there is absolutely no foodstuff in the area of the house where I saw our uninvited guest. When I was a kid, my parents' house had an infestation, but the mice almost always appeared in the kitchen, where the food is stored, or the living room, where we ate. Why would this creature appear in the hallway between the bedrooms and the bathroom in my house? Nature puzzles me sometimes.

We also have spiders in our house, but they mostly live in the basement. We had a representative from the local pest control company come by to give us an estimate for spraying. It seemed a bit pricey, so we have yet to make the investment, although after my encounter with little Jerry this morning, we may have them take care of the mice as well as the spiders. While arachnids are not my favorite species with which to share my dwelling, they are somewhat less invasive than rodents. (I also suggested to Rob that we could get a cat, but he shot that idea right down. Since I'm not a huge fan of felines myself, it was only a half-hearted suggestion anyway).

Speaking of rodents, when I let Remy out into the backyard one night last week to "do her business," she suddenly let out one of her danger barks. I looked over to where she had fixed her gaze, and saw a very large, black animal on the fence between our yard and our neighbors'. I couldn't tell what it was, but I got Remy back into the house (very much against her will), and said to Rob "There's some kind of very large, black animal out there." He opened the back door to look, and immediately recognized the black and white mask of a raccoon. I, of course, had only seen the back end. We concluded that this visitor had been availing itself of Remy's food at night. Needless to say, since then, we've been bringing in the dog food when it gets dark. From the looks of this raccoon, it won't be starving any time soon. I'm certain that Remy's food dish is not its only source of nutrition.

In addition to all of God's creatures displaying themselves in various areas of my home, I am contending with midterms - one is over, the other is upcoming - just a week from today. We also have child care, laundry, dishes, and all of the things that go along with home ownership. There has been quite a lot of activity in our house these last couple of weeks! We are looking forward to Thanksgiving break, when perhaps we will have time to call the pest control guy again.