And Thus Ends My Vacation...

3am, wide awake. I go downstairs to read. Check email briefly, and THUNK - a noise from the pantry.

I peer around the corner, just as Dobby peers from the other direction. There's Otis, with Mousie #04-2007 in his mouth.

Okay, I think, I'll just let them beat it to death, and then I'll throw it out. Normally I'm not such a sadist, but catching a mouse while in my nightgown (and bare feet!) is just not an option. So I curl up on the couch (feet off the ground) in the living room and figure I'll give them a little time to put the poor thing out of its misery.

Not even one page into the chapter, I hear Dobby growling. Now HE'S got Mousie. And he's bringing him into the living room. I get up, shuffle Dobbs back into the kitchen, and pull off some paper towels. Dobby! Drop that!

Dobby drops the mouse - looks pretty dead to me - and I cover it with the paper towels, AND THEN IT STARTS TO RUN AWAY. Scream #1 from Beth. I should note that, later, Joe said he heard that scream but figured I just fell or something, so he went back to sleep. Thanks, Joe. Thanks a lot. >:P

The cats start to play "catch and release" in the kitchen, then move into the living room. Here I am, perched on the stairs like a total girly-girl, waiting for my cats to kill a mouse smaller than the end of my thumb. Scream #2 came when the mouse started running for the stairs.

I couldn't take it anymore - went up to bed, didn't care if I woke Joe, turned on the light, and read for a couple of hours. And this morning, poor Mister Mousie did indeed pass on. Fortunately, he was in tact. My boys like to play, but they don't like to eat. Ick.

That's how I started this final day of being able to sleep in - wide awake and shrieking at small rodents at 3am. Damn near perfect week, if you count the cat poop and water meter...