Not a Creature Was Stirring...

Ok, so I will spare you the picture! You see, Geno was certain that we had a mouse somewhere around, because it was getting into my drawer with my potholders and tearing them up. Of course, it couldn't destroy the ones that are about to be thrown away anyway-it tore up my new ones that Mark had gotten me for Mother's Day from Linen's and Things! You know, the ones with the black coating to make them totally awesome? Apparently, this mouse has more upscale taste! Well, we were sitting in our living room watching tv on Saturday night when our cat, Dot, came out of our bedroom with a mouse in her mouth!! She went to the dining room and we could hear a scuffle in there. I wanted to see what she was doing, so I turned on the light. Of course, she wanted to play with it for a while before killing it, but my watching had ruined her fun. It ran back into the living room behind the love seat. That is where I was sitting!!

Now...picture me with a plastic collander with a handle trying to get capture this mouse. I was extremely excited. Dot was not interested in the least. Geno lifted the couch up and I tried to find it. I had stuffed a blanket under our bedroom door to make sure that it didn't run in there again. Well, not only did that little mouse have upscale taste, but it was pretty smart! Well, at least smarter than me. I thought it had managed to run under the door, so I took the blanket out. It was hiding in the blanket and I just gave it a free passage back into the bedroom! I tried to get Dot to go back in there and get it. She still wasn't interested.

Then (two nights later) we hear another ruckus. Geno thought that we had a skunk or racoon or opposum or whatever critter had come along to see what we had in our garbage. (Actually, they aren't very smart, because we feed all of our left-overs to the critters, so they only had to go to the bottom of the deck and check it out!) I thought maybe the noise was in the kitchen, so I turned on the light and there was Dot on the stove knocking things down and keeping close watch on this little mouse who was hiding behind my mixer. Well, you know me...I just had to see it again! I thought we should help her by moving things out of the way.

Did you know that part of the thrill for the cat is the actual hunt? I do now.

Well, it jumped back behind the stove and got away again! Geno finally put out a trap and I knew the next night when we walked in the door that the cute little guy had been caught. Dot was keeping a vigil in the kitchen and came right to the door to get me. I was horrified! That is so mean! Geno, of course, was puffing out his chest and telling me that he was smarter than Dot. I am pretty sure that isn't the case. I mean, if Geno could actually pounce on it and catch it without a trap, I might believe it. Anyone can set a trap!