Though we’ve always had mice living in the attic and basement of our one-story home, there has only been one mouse dumb enough to venture into the living space\u00a0– and a younger Pippa quickly and proudly killed that mouse.\u00a0 Until two weeks ago, when the world’s dumbest mouse moved in to cohabit with us and our two cats.\u00a0 At least, I thought the mouse was the world’s dumbest when he first showed himself, running around fully exposed and unprotected\u00a0in our dining room\u00a0as Ophy chased him with what looked like bloodlust in her eyes.\u00a0 But we soon learned that Ophy doesn’t have the faintest idea how to kill a mouse, and frequently loses\u00a0sight of the mouse when she’s tracking him.\u00a0 If the mouse pops behind the living room door for a second, Ophy will spend a half hour back there trying to find him again, while the mouse has moved on to safety in other parts of our house.\u00a0 Then there was the classic moment of the mouse sitting in the middle our\u00a0porch, munching happily on Ophy’s regurgitated kibble breakfast while Ophy sat a foot away watching him.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And Pippa?\u00a0 Well, at age fifteen-ish, Pippa has looked me directly in the eyes and communicated via her best cat Jedi mental telepathy the following statement, “Look, Abby, I know you’d like me to catch that mouse, but, honey, I’m old, I’ve done a lot of hunting in my day, and right now I’m really enjoying sitting in your lap doing nothing.\u00a0 I’m retired.\u00a0 Deal with it.”\u00a0 One doesn’t argue with Pippa.<\/p>\n
So we’ve been living with this damn mouse in our living area for two weeks.\u00a0 We can’t put out mouse traps anywhere the cats go, because we know what would happen if we did.\u00a0 And I worry that if we put a mouse trap in our very small bedroom, one of us is going to walk right into it with a bare toe in the middle of the night.<\/p>\n
Part of me thinks that I should be the Creative Children’s Librarian and turn this situation into the next great piece of juvenile fiction.\u00a0 Maybe Ophy and Pippa could become\u00a0allies with Fred the mouse and together the three of them will defeat the evil beagle next door named Bridget.\u00a0 Or maybe the mouse works his clever rodent magic to trick, fool, and otherwise confound those two lazy house cats.\u00a0 Or maybe the two cats, formerly rather antagonistic roommates, will bond and become best friends as they work out a plan to catch the mouse that is so annoying their beloved people.\u00a0 Or maybe the two people of the house will go completely stir crazy from the stress of worrying about the stupid rodent running over their bed in the middle of the night, be hauled away by the folks from the insane asylum, and the cats and the mouse will glory in their new-found independence and hold a huge and raucous party, with lots of catnip and cheese.\u00a0 Wait, that might be the young adult novel version of the story…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Though we’ve always had mice living in the attic and basement of our one-story home, there has only been one mouse dumb enough to venture into the living space\u00a0– and a younger Pippa quickly and proudly killed that mouse.\u00a0 Until two weeks ago, when the world’s dumbest mouse moved in to cohabit with us and … Continue reading Resident Rodent<\/span>