Forget the 3-second rule

And always wear shoes outside. While we are at it, gloves, too.

First of all, thanks to Christina for the advice pertaining to the critter blog. (Frankly, do you guys check back to see if your comments are answered? I do! Yeah, I need validation and a life.) My shoes will be thoroughly shaken to rid them of any pestilence.

Speaking of which, another set of critters were delivered to us, courtesy of our fearler predator Bubba.

I awoke this morning to find that our small patio table was shifted away from the wall. Since I told myself umpteenth times not to sweat the small stuff anymore, I let it be.

Now, my morning ritual involves lugging an array of supplies to bring to work, like my copies of the local paper and the WSJ, bills, sometimes, the travel coffee mug, my jacket etc. (and you fellas thought we stop at handbags), I flung today's offerings, the papers, on our bigger patio table.

The slam it made on the metal table would hardly serve as a wakeup call to one's neighbors but M jumped, and told me to essentially cool it, and take a chill pill. I'm paraphrasing, of course. But few things cause my husband to be jumpy and I asked what the big deal was. He asked if I didn't hear a sound, a squeak essentially. And I calmly said: Oh, is that what that sound was. What is it?

Now, most of you are pretty wise by now where the story is going. But trust me, if you were me this morning and you're not a morning person, you can be oblivious to a lot of things.

He said Bubba caught a field mouse. And he, M, rescued it, which explains why the small patio table is pulled away from the door cuz our clawed cat was flicking it about. I've seen him done that before. That cat is so sadistic, I love it!

Now, why the hell would you want to do something like that, I asked him. Just kill the damn pest. Yah, and I'm born Buddhist. He said there's no reason for a mouse to be subjected to such torture and he used my decorative tealight candle holder to store it for the time being.

Urghhhhh, I feel so contaminated. I know it's no big, mean rats but they are all in the same family. I don't feel so good living in the country all of a sudden. And I'm real proud of my cat who is serving us well in return for his maintenance and lodging.

As we were getting ready to head out, M noticed a limp gray matter on the deck and we recognized it to be another field mouse. A dead one. My cat managed to get to it in time. Good for Bubbs, I say. Frankly, sometimes, I'm really glad my eyesight isn't that great to see all the details.

So, this finally brings me to my point that I will never ever abide by the 3-second rule again. If any food, utensils etc fall anywhere in and outside the house, it goes right to the sink.

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Melissa: LOL!!! After that story, I'll probably think twice about abiding by the 3-second rule too! ;-) Along the same lines, when I was still living at my parents house (so, if memory serves me correctly, this took place some time during high school), a mouse somehow became trapped beneath the floorboards in my bedroom. All night long, I would hear it clawing and chewing. *shiver* I tried to convince myself that it was a 'friendly' mouse by naming it Fievel (from "An American Tale"), but it didn't work! LOL!!! Every night, I had visions of this monster mouse chewing its way through the floorboards and carpet, and then running across my pillow!!! ... We don't know whatever happened to Fievel. One day, the noises just stopped. We don't think he met his demise down there, because we never smelled anything. He must have just finally decided to turn around and go back out the way he came in! *shrugs*

Christina: We thank God have never had a problem with mice in our house here in Columbia although a few others have. What we HAVE had in the neighborhood, however, which is worse...is...(scary horror movie music inserted here)....RATS. This is because we have a lot of manmade lakes in the area with drainage pipes and spillways and etc. and unfortunately these are areas which tend to attract....rats. They thankfully rarely come up into houses but just to see one running around in any proximity to your dwelling is unnerving. This is why I am also thankful the lakes provide us with plenty of snakes to keep the rat problem under control. We also have red-tailed hawks from the nearby Fort that fly over and practice rodent control so that is a help. As for ever seeing one even near my home, I'd probably have a coronary.
As for field mice, I could probably handle them okay. and I'd rescue them too. However, any rat who ever came near me would get a shovel to the head!