I suppose that it must be the time of year, as the weather gets colder wildlife adjusts to a new lifestyle. Squirrels get ready for winter by burying their nuts (mostly in the middle of our lawn it would appear, although on one occasion Rich found one attempting to dig a hole in our kitchen floor!); wasps go into hibernation (to my alarm all over the parasol I discovered when I came to take it down, fortunately so sleepy that they just fell to the ground when poked and didn't attack me); frogs seem to take journeys (when Rich was mowing the lawn last week we had to take about a half dozen away from the peril of the mower blades and back to the safety of the frog pond); ladybugs (as discussed previously) go and live in our bedroom. So, apparently, do mice.
I was sitting on the edge of the bed on Wednesday afternoon when I heard a scratching sound. Odd nosies are not uncommon in our house, and especially not in our bedroom. Sometimes things get into the sealed chimney and make noises, the aerial on the roof is loose and when it gets caught by a breeze the noise travels down the chimney... we are partially under the roof here with no loft and sometimes squirrels (or whatever) run across the roof... so odd noises are not so odd... when they are coming from above. The scratching seemed to be at my feet. Maybe it was me sitting on the bed. I sat still. There it was again. I did what any self respecting corward would do... I called Rich. He dismissed it as me creaking the bed. No, I insisted it was scratching. Obligingly there it was again... and then out ran a mouse! ARGH! I hate mice. Even when we were at school and kept all manner of pets including rats, hamsters (of various breeds and sizes), gerbils, guinea pigs, rabbits and mice it was only the mice I couldn't bear. They are so small and they will scuttle. And the tails. Ugh. This explained in part the visit of the cat to the bedroom the night before... clearly she had a scent of the mouse. We went and fetched her, and she stayed for about two minutes before leaving. Rubbish mouse catcher.
The story doesn't end here though. Apparently last night she was 'playing' with mice downstairs, one in the hall and one in the living room. I live in hope that one of them was the one that had been in our bedroom! Probably not though.
This is not the first time that our house has had mice. We had one that inhabited our kitchen for a while. Traps were set (to no avail) and the cat proved largely ineffective. Eventually one day she did catch the mouse, and triumphantly took of to show my nearly-mother-in-law her prize... whereupon she dropped the mouse in my nearly-mother-in-law's kitchen! I told you my cat is a rubbish mouse catcher!
I was sitting on the edge of the bed on Wednesday afternoon when I heard a scratching sound. Odd nosies are not uncommon in our house, and especially not in our bedroom. Sometimes things get into the sealed chimney and make noises, the aerial on the roof is loose and when it gets caught by a breeze the noise travels down the chimney... we are partially under the roof here with no loft and sometimes squirrels (or whatever) run across the roof... so odd noises are not so odd... when they are coming from above. The scratching seemed to be at my feet. Maybe it was me sitting on the bed. I sat still. There it was again. I did what any self respecting corward would do... I called Rich. He dismissed it as me creaking the bed. No, I insisted it was scratching. Obligingly there it was again... and then out ran a mouse! ARGH! I hate mice. Even when we were at school and kept all manner of pets including rats, hamsters (of various breeds and sizes), gerbils, guinea pigs, rabbits and mice it was only the mice I couldn't bear. They are so small and they will scuttle. And the tails. Ugh. This explained in part the visit of the cat to the bedroom the night before... clearly she had a scent of the mouse. We went and fetched her, and she stayed for about two minutes before leaving. Rubbish mouse catcher.
The story doesn't end here though. Apparently last night she was 'playing' with mice downstairs, one in the hall and one in the living room. I live in hope that one of them was the one that had been in our bedroom! Probably not though.
This is not the first time that our house has had mice. We had one that inhabited our kitchen for a while. Traps were set (to no avail) and the cat proved largely ineffective. Eventually one day she did catch the mouse, and triumphantly took of to show my nearly-mother-in-law her prize... whereupon she dropped the mouse in my nearly-mother-in-law's kitchen! I told you my cat is a rubbish mouse catcher!