My niece Annie had a mouse encounter yesterday. It so inspired her that she wrote a poem. Check it out!Why do those tiny beasts elicit such reactions from us humans? We are 1,000 times bigger! We could roar like the giants that we are and scare the little guys to Kingdom Come! (where did that phrase come from?). Why do tiny little scurrying creatures send adult humans into fits of screaming and leaps onto furniture?
I have a theory. I believe it is the startle factor. I think we feel in control of our surroundings most of the time. However, when a visitor enters our vision, one that we did not know was there, we are scared beyond reason. It happened yesterday when I chanced to enter my bedroom just as my husband was coming out of our bathroom. I realized he didn't know I was there.
Moment of decision.
Oh, why not?
"Rah!" I shouted. He startled and jumped like he had just seen the worlds' largest rodent...me!
Is that what those mousies do? Do they have the same twisted sense of humor? I say...YES!
Most of my Mouse Encounters happened on our dairy in Idaho. We lived in a 100 or so year old lava rock farm house. Not long after moving in we discovered we were not alone. Gena and I were both teens and stayed up much later than our dairy farmer father or our hard working farm wife mother. Late one night we sat on the couch with the T.V. glowing in the dark living room. The only light came from the kitchen. Suddenly I felt like I was not alone. Ever get that feeling? Like someone is watching you? I glanced to my left and saw, on the arm rest of the couch, a little brown mouse.
This was a delayed startle.
At first I was transfixed by how cute he was. As I caught my breath I noticed his dark brown B.B. sized eyes gazing curiously at me.
He didn't move.
I caught Gena's attention. We were frozen. Then we screamed and jumped and roused our parents. Of course it was Mom who came to see why her daughters were so upset. Mom always saved the day! Our visitor had disappeared by that time but he would reappear...or was it one of his 10 billion cousins?
One day Gena put her foot into one of her furry slippers and found she wasn't alone. Can you imagine?! Screaming and slipper throwing ensued!
She had many more encounters than I did. I lived at college most of the year. Perhaps this is why she is scared senseless to this day whenever she sees those brown mousie eyes. One day I received a phone call at about 2:30 in the afternoon. It was my 5' 11" blond, dynamic sister. She spoke in an urgent voice.
"Please talk to me."
"Why?," I asked.
"I just saw a mouse in my house. I am on my kitchen counter. I am NOT coming down until Michael and Chris get home from school and corner it!"
I tried to reason with her, reminding her of her size relative to the intruders' but to no avail. I talked to her and calmed her until her saviors came through the door!
My Sweetie met a mouse one night in Los Alamos, New Mexico. The kids had been eating popcorn and it was scattered on the floor. He was sitting on the floor, leaning back on his hands, watching the 10:00 news. Out of the shadows came a little brown phantom. Following the trail of popcorn bits it worked its' way across the floor until it came to the biggest bit of all...the end of Dee's finger!
He literally had tiny little bite marks! CUTE! After a frantic phone call to his mother...apparently I was no comfort...he was even more chagrined.
"Was it foaming at the mouth?" she asked while laughing uproariously!
A tetanus booster and a few Bandaids later he was just fine.
Shortly after the popcorn incident sweet revenge came. Dee brought home some Atomic Fireballs from swim practice. (if you have never had one...don't, unless you want the inside of you mouth to burn like it is on fire!) He left the candy on the counter. The next morning we found one of the fireballs had been tampered with. The cellophane wrapper had been chewed through and there were tiny teeth marks in the ball of flames. I thought Dee would die laughing.
"Can you just picture it?" He said through gasps and guffaws. "He probably thought he had found something delicious! I would love to have seen his face as the burn kicked in! Maybe he ran back to the family and told them to stay out of THAT house!"
Revenge is sweet!
5 comments:
Lest anyone think we are a filthy bunch of people...what do you expect on a farm in a 100 year old house? Also, in Los Alamos we lived on the edge of a deep canyon. The critters came up every fall looking for warmth. There, I feel better!!
You just made my day. I had never heard the stories of the mice in Los Alamos. Maybe some one should have thought to round up the critters and sent them with the Atomic Bomb that went over the ocean. Would have served them right. At least they woukld have been cleaned out by the time you got there. Love you Mom
Oh those were great stories about our furry little friends. Or enemies. Or whatever they are. Man I sure would have liked to have seen that mouses face too when he ate that fire ball. That would have been a priceless moment for sure!
You need to ask Richard about the time that he was at my Mom and his old house and he got in their jet tub and a visitor was there with him. That was a funny story. I can just picture Dad getting in his tub and seeing a little furry friend in there with him. Well the furry friend drowned. Yep Dad knocked him into the bath tub of water and he was history! Poor guy.
Hahaha Thank you for that entry. I can't tell you how dumb I felt, crouched in the corner of my couch, calling a friends husband to "rescue" me from a 2 inch fuzzy! *sigh* it's nice to know it runs in the family!
My toes are CURLING! as I type. Shudder and cringe!! Annie, solidarity! JoLynn, I remember that incident and I was solidly on Sherri's side. I think I was there because Richard tried to talk me into going in to see it... nope. Filth has NOTHING to do with it! Since I've foam insulated the perimeter of my siding I've not seen any evidence of the things. BUT I do keep an open container of Decon under my sink, just in case.
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