Maddie the Mouse and Me
>> Tuesday, August 4, 2009
There will be no photo for this one. First of all, no one was around to take the photo. And even if someone had been nearby, I really don't want a photo of me chasing Maddie around the yard (in the rain) wearing my tattered flimsy nightgown.
"Why was I chasing Maddie in the rain?" you ask.
Because she finally did what Annabelle has been trying to do all summer. She caught a chipmunk...rather a mouse.
I saw it from my upstairs window. I'm obsessive when my dogs are outside even though my yard is fenced and safe. I still look out to make sure everything's okay. This time when I looked out I saw Maddie flitting furiously this way and that.
Then I saw it. My little Maddie went in for the attack. I knew she had something in her mouth, but I didn't know what.
I cast modesty to the wind and ran downstairs and out the back door, bare feet and all. "Drop it!" I demanded.
Maddie looked at me and thought about swallowing the now obvious little mouse in her mouth whole. I've told you Maddie's not the brightest bulb on the tree...just sweet.
Well, for a few minutes this morning, she even lost her sweetness title. I began to clap my hands. "DROP IT!" I yelled again.
Maddie looked at me sheepishly. It began to rain harder and harder. A clap of thunder accompanied my next demand for Maddie to drop the mouse. I think Maddie thought the thunder was going to get her (remember, she's afraid of storms) so she finally dropped the little rodent and ran inside through my opened back door...leaving me and the mouse.
At first, I thought the mouse was a baby. It really was cute. Okay...I know mice are bad, but this was a cute mouse and it was breathing its last breath.
I guess some people would have killed it to put it out of its misery, but I'm not one of those people. I just can't. I went dripping back inside and got a paper towel and a shoe box. I picked the little mouse up, put it in the shoebox, and took the shoebox into my garage. It died a few minutes later - in my garage and out of the rain.
Okay. I'm a sap. At least Maddie didn't eat a mouse. I did what I could and there's one less rodent in the world. Who needs coyotes? Not me. I've got Maddie. Somehow, this doesn't seem like Mother Nature at work though...it just seems disgusting.
Wish I could get Maddie to use some mouthwash!
