A Day In The Life
Country Style
When we moved into this mobile in the country we knew that there were sacrifices in lifestyle we’d have to make. We’re still getting used to it. In the first year, we only had heating in our bedrooms so we spent the winter there. I was closest to the bedroom door. These guys:
Rosey (sorry, I never seem to get a good picture of this shiny beautiful black cat.)
and Teddy,
had me opening and shutting the bedroom door all night long. Not only did I lose a lot of sleep, but it chilled the room.
One day, kind hubby made a pet door so I didn’t have to do that anymore. The room stayed warm and the cats could come and go as they needed.
Rosey is a sweety. She likes to share with her humans. In the middle of the night, she will bring in socks or other presents. Here are some of the gifts:
The Snoopy and the Phantom were gifts from a very good friend. I tried to keep them on the piano but Rosey thought we’d needed them in the bed with us.
Teddy is a sweety and lays on our shoulders and purrs. It helps me. It hurts my husband. Teddy switches between us all night.
Oh, the Ninja Turtles? They came with Kali. She never plays with them. But Rosey knows we need them. They are nearly as big as she is. It is difficult for her to get through the pet door with them. But she manages to yell in kitty meows about what she is bringing from the livingroom. She has brought us big hiking boots, even my rainboots. I don’t know how she does it!
Anyway, last night or rather ‘at stupid o’clock’ as my friend Willow21 calls it, this time it was about 5AM, we hear the meowing and thumping that let us know we were in for a present. But there was a jingle sound that didn’t sound like her tags. I got out my phone to put a flashlight on the situation. There she was flopping something that looked like this around.
Yeah, not my picture because the phone was the light.
Most of the years we have lived here there have been mice. But not many and things were generally okay. This year before COVID19 we were inundated. So we were already fighting Hantavirus. We’ve, well, my brother mostly, set traps all around. We had been catching two or three a day. It had calmed down a lot lately, so a mouse wasn’t what I expected.
I hate killing them. They are so cute. One day, a few years ago, I went into the bedroom and saw one like this on my made bed.
Except that the one on my bed was more cinnamon with white on his/her belly and feet. It had its hands folded together in prayer form like it was pleading for its life. My heart was broken. I wanted to pick it up and pet it. I wanted to sit and draw it so puffy and soft. But I remembered Hanta and called my brother to see what he could do about it. He didn’t have the heart to kill it either. He scooped it up with a kerchief and set it free outside. We didn’t have the rooster yet. Nowadays the poor thing would be eaten. We have tried the live traps hoping not to kill them. But I think, no matter how far away from the house we set them free, they call their friends and tell them about the big house full of free meals. Yeah, they didn’t read the contract. Sometimes I’m tempted to put them in cages to tame them and hold them. But we barely have enough money to feed ourselves and the three furry friends. I don’t need to start a colony of more pets. So the quandary stands. The only choice is to trap them then feed the chickens.
So this was Sunday, yeah the usual Zoom church and CBS Sunday Morning defined it for me, even though it’s been a long, long day since rooster crow time. Let’s hope tomorrow is kinder to all of us furry or not.
What Day Is It Anyway? is another blog prompt by Linda G. Hill in her words:
Why I’m writing this post:
Because if you’re like me and stuck at home already, or if you’re going to be like me soon, the days of the week are hell to keep track of. We have a wonderful community here on WordPress and all over the Internet as well, and I’m sure many people are feeling nervous and/or isolated. I want to make sure every one of us has somewhere to congregate and someone to talk to.
I want everyone to know that you can start discussions with each other in the comments, and if you’d like to write your own “What Day is it Anyway?” post, you can link to this one. Hashtag #WDIIA.
Let’s keep in touch!
Darswords 
I don’t envy you your mice population, but I do envy you the cats and pupper. Though as we established in our last discussion about pets, I’m not equipped to deal with one of any kind. Though at this point I would likely gladly trade you the mice – or one or two – for my spider encroachment now coming on. Spiders are not my friends. I don’t care much how good they are for controlling other bug infestations. I don’t want them in my living space. And they come. And they give me the creeps and nightmares. But hantavirus on top of covid to worry about is not in my range of mental gymnastics, either. Can we do tribbles, instead? As I recall, all they did was clog things up. But they were cute. And fluffy. And not venomous or virus-laden. Ah, the vicissitudes.
No thanks to the spider mouse trade. We do get a lot of spiders here as summer comes in. Every insect and arachnid finds our house. Yeah, juggling viruses is not a fun game though the rules are basically the same. Tribbles would be great in winter. They’d keep us warm but I think they’d heat up the house in the summer to unbearable range! Sorry I took so long to answer this. I had opened it in the phone but was busy. That meant it looked ‘read’ on the notification. I just remembered as I was getting ready to turn off the computer. Thanks for your support? 💜🤗🌈🐲🖖🤟
Our Merlin brings us mice, but we keep hoping he will get too old to catch them!
Both of the cats will play with the mice. This was the only dead one, Either way, yuck! I love the name Merlin!
So do we!
I love the way the cat brings you important presents. So kind and caring.
I had to look up the hantavirus it sounds really nasty!I hope you all avoid it.
Thank you for the mention, that was kind of you, though sorry you were up at stupid o’clock!
I hope you will have heating in the rest of your home this winter. Keep going, one day at a time 💜
The kindness of our cats is profound. Imagine not having money but wanting to give to your loved ones? How creative to find things in the house that represent that love! Yeah, Hanta is scary. We no longer keep our food in the cabinet because the mice took it over. We are spending time cleaning the cabinet over and over until we feel it will be clean enough to use again. Meanwhile the plastic bins with tight fitting lids work to keep food protected. Happy so sent folks to your blog to learn about stupid o’clock. On my best nights I am only two hours into sleep by then. We have had heating in all the rooms since my son moved in as he bought us radiant heaters to use as needed in the rest of the house. Living in the living room is a wonderful thing! We will get through this! One minute, one day at a time! 💜💜🤗🤗👍🌈
Yes indeed we will. Hooray for your son and your cats ❤️😁❤️👍 keep well keep Smiling, I always enjoy your blogs and your replies 💜💜
Our cat brings us “presents” as well and keeps the rodents away. We have shorkies, which are a form of terrier, so they hunt squirrels all day, only once did they ever catch one, a defenseless baby. We found it at the end of our bed…dead. I recoiled in horror at the thought we slept all night with that thing on our bed!! Poor squirrel. I even wrote a story about it but no one has bought it yet, lol.
I will be glad when the rodents figure out this is not the place to go. Our cats are getting too old to actually kill the mice, Thus the pride of the trapped dead one that Rosey had to share.
OH, how sad the poor squirrel. I’d love to read the story. Yeah, it is our sleeping place these pets give us the presents. Our most vulnerable place!
I think Kali, rat terrier, would be much more likely to bring us quail, chipmunks, or other beings from outside if we felt it safe enough for her to be out there all day without our watching out for hawks, coyotes, eagles, or other big dogs that have no problem getting over our gate.