A few days ago Philip said four words I have always dreaded hearing.
We have a mouse.
After he said this, a million thoughts went through my head at once. When are we moving? What if it has rabies? Is this the result of some sin in my life? What am I going to name it? (That last one was followed by another internal thought, ‘”You idiot, you’re not naming the mouse. It’s the enemy.”) Maybe I should also note here that I have a tendency to name things. Is anyone catching on to my neurotic tendencies here? And yes, I am watching an episode of Christy while I type this.
Apparently he (the mouse, not Christy, in case I derailed a little too far with that last sentence) has taken up residence downstairs, so I have avoided the downstairs as much as possible. When I am down there he’s done me the courtesy of not making an appearance. (Dangit, his name is Maxwell!)
I confided in a friend, almost like making a confession in a whisper, that we had a mouse. She laughed and said, “We caught 8 mice a few days ago!” This was shocking to me. First of all, I always thought having mice in the house was a sign of me being a bad housekeeper. Apparently, mice are common here, especially as the weather turns cold. Also, apparently, if there is one, there are probably more. However, I’m certain that Maxwell is a hermit, or maybe a monk, and that is why he’s taken up residence in a pastor’s house, downstairs where all the books are. Right?
Better a hermit than a monk…. monks might start their own ‘mouse’istary in your home and then go and witness to their friends, or be some of those wine making monks and then word would get out to the other wine drinking mice…. besides, imagine the shame if it got out the the Baptist minister had a family of catholic mice in the basement. Oh the horrors!
If allergic to cats, this might be a fine to bring up dogs and terriers since they can be trained to root out varmin!
You crack me up! We had a mouse infestation last year about this time. Thank GOD for our cat!! We didn’t name the critters; I’m afraid if I had done that, I would have had a much harder time killing them. We miss you guys! Thanks for the blog…