welcome, country mouse

as i cleaned up lunch this afternoon, i went to toss a few random toys back into the toy room. as i stepped into the doorway, right there, sitting amidst building blocks and race cars, was none other than the country mouse himself.

i froze. he froze.

i think a tumbleweed blew past.

i thought to myself "WHAT in the WORLD is this mouse DOING? what does he have a death wish?! it's the middle of the day!" i looked around quickly to see what i could catch him in. nothing within my grasp. perfect. so i went for him. scurry scurry. i trapped him in the doorway, but then i thought 'if i catch him in my hands, is he going to, like, bite me?!' hmm. better not find out. so i chased him into the toys and picked up a woven basket. gotcha! nope. he squeezed through a hole. blast! he runs under the baseboard heater, and i think i lost him when out he shoots out again. ha! i'll get you, mouse! i grab a little puzzle box, as elias looks on in wonderment. i must have looked ridiculous chasing this mouse around. i capture it under the box. success!

and then i think "what in the WORLD do i DO with it?"

you see, dave sets traps for mice all the time, but it's not something i'm involved in. i don't do dead mice. live ones, okay, sure. dead ones- nah. and we've got a small country of country mice in our house. our house is 150 years old and our foundation is made of stone. basically, i could probably squeeze through our foundation if i wanted to. so we catch mice frequently, and see them frequently, but the boldness (or stupor) of this mouse was pretty hilarious.

as i'm thinking of what i do with this mouse trapped under the puzzle box (do i put it outside? do i step on it? do i feed it to the neighbors cat?), elias, mr. curious, wants to hold the mouse.

of course.

so now i've got a pet.

and his name...is ribbons. eli's favorite dog name (who knows...) is getting a test run on country mouse. and as elias looks at him, he says to me "mum- God made him pretty." c'monnnn. i mean, how do i kill this thing now?!

the irony of all ironies, this mouse. instead of eating crumbs from under the toaster oven, ribbons is now enjoying entire crackers, hand fed by young elias. hahaha. awesome.

would you like to meet him??