How Many of You...

Tom and Jerry…



How many of you know the answer to this question… which is worse than finding a mouse running around your office?
Finding two, is the right answer.
We willingly share our house with one stroppy, arrogant and demanding black and white cat, called Merlin. He is a lovely cat, but with one particular quirk we wish he didn’t have. He loves to bring us gifts from the garden. Usually a mouse of some description, but we have had a frog and a butterfly too. He is a very gentle cat, so none of his gifts are damaged.
He is getting on a bit now, as are we all, but he still hasn’t learned that his chosen gift will not sit and wait while he has a spot of lunch. It’s quite comical really, the way you can see him trying to puzzle out where it went.
But this time he has surpassed himself and we have two at the same time. One is larger than the other, a field mouse I think, with a lovely white chest, and the other is so cute. Just like a cartoon mouse, dark, round, and not a bit shy. Lovely, but we don’t want them in doors.
Over the years, we have tried to catch them, and sometimes get lucky. Like the time one was hiding behind the cushions on the couch, leaving his tail sticking out for all to see.Mostly though, it’s a very frustrating time, wondering where they are and what they might be chewing.
As we are getting far too old to be crawling around the floor, we bought one of those humane traps. Loaded with cheese and room to move around, they seem to work some of the time.
The larger field mouse used this facility and was soon back outside, but the smaller one was becoming a problem, acting like no mouse I have ever seen. He has taken to sitting in the middle of the floor, staring at Merlin. Merlin just stares back, as if he can’t figure it out either. Then the funny little creature started patrolling around the house as if he belonged there. Seeing this tiny brown ball (with a tail) slowly moving around was weird. He was ignoring the trap, so this was becoming a real problem.
In the end, we left the back door open all day, hoping he would take advantage of it and go back to where he belonged.We do consider ourselves lucky though. Next doors cats bring in half eaten mice and birds. At least our old Merlin is a big softy!
There is a lot more to this story… tune in next week, to see what happened next!