Feelings can change overnight
This is a quiet, peaceful neighbourhood. Rarely at night does one hear a car door slam. Sometimes the pigeons will start a barney on one of the chimney stacks and later the owl emits the odd shriek. The dachshunds up the lane go to bed early and save their yapping for the daylight hours. A blood curdling scream before the 10 o’clock news is bound to cause an exchange of glances over the pince-nez.
I was nearest to the scream - so it frightened me. MTL was reading in bed, I was watching Mamma Mia - (I thought Colin Firth camped the part up outrageously and lost the kudos gained by his Mr Darcy; fortunately he has since redeemed himself) and went into the kitchen for my evening two fingers of Kit-Kat. It was dark; I switched the light on, saw a movement and screamed.
The thing stopped dead in its tracks, looked right at me and scarpered out of sight. Had it been in the garden I would have cooed over its prettiness and rushed for my camera. But it was a MOUSE –(please God a field mouse) in my KITCHEN – where crumbs are mopped up before they have time to settle in, where the tops are dettol-ed daily and cupboards frequently disinfected.
By the time MTL came down – at my request - there was no sign of the little blighter. I vacuumed the floor and the adjoining room and went to bed early – all of a flutter, thankful to have my protector beside me.
This morning I saw the tawny cat belonging to our neighbour; the one MTL convinced me I had ‘done in’on April 1st. He’s quite a pretty, fluffy cat and always stops what he is doing to give me a long, appraising look. I think we are going to be friends.
20 comments:
Probably a field mouse if it was pretty... bit like a gerbil.
I had mice at my old cottage. Cats suddenly held new meaning.
Sx
P.S...Jimmy is going to write something rude about my kitchen floor in relation to me having mice. Please ignore him.
We use those things you plug into a wall and emit a super high pitched wail that can't be heard by humans, but can by rodents. For them it's the equivalent of going into a house where there's a car alarm constantly going off. It's too irritating so they go elsewhere.
However, you can't use these things if you have pets
Scarlet: it's quite difficult to ignore Jimmy but I'll try:)
Kim: ooooh thanks for that. I'll tel MTL we have to have one. We no longer have pets.
At least it wasn't a rat... we had what the rodent control gentleman called a 'casual intruder' once. It's a long story. Let's just say I no longer hide the choccie biccies anywhere near a window... eeeeuuuurrrrrgh (an audiible shudder)
Pat, I was so engrossed by your "exchange of glances over the pince nez" (!) that I forgot to thank you for kindly inviting me to write a post for your blog about submissions. Please remind me where to send the post and I'll write something with pleasure. Lots to say on the subject!
It sounds like it's time for a safari at Chez Pat.
Good hunting!
Cheers.
Pat, you have ALL of my sympathies. The neighbours' rats are back in our laundry-room downstairs. I've been scribbling a short tale about the war here to keep them out.
Kim, my best-best-best friend told me that the critters get accustomed to the sound things after a while, is that true?
Or you could keep a large caliber gun in the kitchen if you really want to teach him a lesson. You could mount his tiny head on a toothpick as a warning to the others.
A cat in the house will take care of any mice or rats. Mine, however, seem to have forgotten that spiders are on their list of things to kill, and I found one in the tub the other day when I went to shower. I'm sure it is parboiled now, with all the hot water I ran to wash it away!
Hi Pat. Been talking to a young friend of ours, who is a computer engineer, and he thinks the problem on Picasa/blogger will eventually clear. He suggest trying Picasa about once a week to see.
Leigh: that was my great terror. They say you are never more than 20 yards from a rat Or it could be ten. Or feet:)
Leigh: how marvellous. I'll e-mail you.
Randall: no no no! One visit is enough!
GG: that word is a no-no. And when I told MTL about the sound thing he said he thought he had one and it didn't work but I need one for peace of mind.
UB: you have a sadistic streak in you - regrettable in one so young.
Ponita: I'm becoming a cat lover - in late life;)
Mike and Ann: I tend to believe that too. Sooner or later computer problems tend to sort themselves out and I test it almost daily.
If it's a field mouse leave it alone, it'll be in the fields soon.
Did it have a short tail?
Well hen, that's you now that maw, paw and the weans have moved in. Unless of course you were standing in Scarlets kitchen, plenty of wildlife living underneath her fridge.
We had a Norway rat in our toaster oven in Japan once. I saw the tail sticking out just before I slid the bread into it. We had toddlers who crawled all over the floor at the time; that rat was as cute as the Dickens, but it had to go.
Our two cats are ruthless mice killers, but if we don't shut their cat flap, they bring them inside the house as gifts. Maybe a gift of catnip is in order (a pretty one, planted in a container where the cat can easily nibble it), but be glad you don't have a cat flap!
What is that saying about keeping your enemy close ?
I am sure that the awful er.... nice cat that lives next door will take care of your problem.
cheers, parsnip
John.g:I'll show you a picture DV tomorrow.
Jimmy: you're just trying to frighten me and Scarlet says to ignore you:)
Mary: rat in the toaster! Oh the horror!
We do have cat nip and no cat flap.
Parsnip: good thinking. I haven't seen him all day. I do hope he hasn't taken offence.
Bring the cat into the house tonight, and perhaps he will bring you a present (preferably dead).
Judy: I think he's got the hump - I haven't seem him for days.
We have had an intermittent mouse problem for years, we put traps down at first but never caught a thing. The only reason I knew about them was I would find droppings in a particular cupboard. But it's been a while, so fingers crossed.
Eryl: please God mine was a one night only affair. Heaven forfend me from mouse droppings.
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