wildlife

Some of you may remember when we got the new cat last fall. I got the cat so in the event that mice entered the basement during the winter, as they are prone to do, that maybe the cat presence would make them rethink that plan. (And also, of course, because Jupiter wanted a new cat). I didn't see any mice all winter.

Thursday night, I was kept awake by the cat THUNDERING up and down the hall, in and out of my room, all around the house. All night. Somewhere around three in the morning, the cat was in my room, and I heard a squeak.

A little foggily, it dawned on me that the cat does not have any squeaky toys. I got up and shut my bedroom door. 90 minutes later, I was getting ready for work and the cat was sniffing by her litterbox. Squeak. She picked up the live squeaky toy and carried it off down the hall.

I DO NOT DO LIVE SQUEAKY TOYS. It was bad enough having them in the basement. I AM NOT doing LIVE SQUEAKY TOYS upstairs where we live. The cat is defective. Apparently she does not KILL the mice. She likes playing with them too much.

Yeah, so much for that plan. My normal plan is to poison wild animals that invade my space, but I don't want the cat to get into the poison or to find any squeaky toys that may have poison in them. My current plan consists of a big FOR SALE sign in front of my house. Too bad the economy is crap right now and I can't do that plan either. And I suppose it might be overreacting slightly. And I feel completely pathetic when I get completely petrified by a little bitty speck of a rodent invading my house. I mean, come on. And outside, I don't have much of an issue with them. But inside..not so much. Friday night I had to go wandering up the street looking for any of my neighbors sons to come do rodent removal. Jupiter thought they were cute. Of course.

This morning, at five am, I woke up to TAP TAP TAP TAP TAP. I figured out that was the neighborhood woodpecker. I thought he was drilling the house, it was so loud.

I also have a woodchuck that lives under my sunporch. I have to go get some mothballs before she has the baby woodchuck. Last spring they ate all my spinach and pea plants. It was nice of me to plant them for the wild animals to eat. So kind. I'm thoughtful that way.