Dog, Cat, Mouse

             Yesterday I got Evangeline ready to go into the backyard and play.  You'd think that since we were only going outside it would not require a whole lot of effort.  You'd be wrong.  First, I have to make sure we are both fully clothed and she has on shoes and socks (if we're lucky!).  Then, there are the things that I tote out there which include: Evangeline's juice cup, a drink for me, Trey's bouncer, Trey, and my cell phone.  I do this all while trying to keep Evangeline from falling down the back stairs.  We are always enthusiastically greeted by Blue Bell (the dog) and Edy (the cat).

              Well, yesterday I open the back door and am greeted by an additional guest, a friend of Edy's.  It was a mouse.  Not a little bitty black mouse but a brown field mouse that better resembled a rat.  I put this on Facebook and one of my friends pointed out that I use to have a pet rat when I was in Jr. High and was never afraid.  This is true.  His name was Pat the Rat and he was much cuter and friendlier than the mousy friend Edy had brought over from the wood clearing near our house.   

               Upon seeing the mouse running all over my patio I screamed and shut the door. Evangeline got quite excited.  She likes mice, you see, because we always read Goodnight Moon and she loves to point out the mouse on all the colored pages.  She SCREAMED "Mouse!!!!" (which really sounded more like "Mou!") then "Edy!  No no!" as Edy chased the mouse underneath the baby pool.  Yesterday we found a similar, but dead, looking mouse in the yard which Drew promptly shoveled away.  So, I called Drew, who had left only a few minutes earlier to come and help.  Our conversation went something like this, "Drew!  There's a mouse running around in our backyard and Edy is chasing it!"  Drew, "And?  What do you want me to do about it?"  Me, "I don't know! Come home?"  Drew, "If I came home I'd be inside watching it the same as you."  Me, "'I guess you're right."  

                Eventually Blue Bell made her way into the backyard and things progressed from comical to violent as she flung poor Mickey all over the yard.  I had to steer Evangeline away from the door by telling her that Blue Bell and the mouse were outside playing so we couldn't go out there right now.  A few minutes later the poor mouse lay dead in the corner of the yard.  Ev, Trey, and I were able to go outside and play and Drew disposed of the lifeless body when he came back home.  

                 My mom said that the mice were probably use to coming into our house since it had been vacant for so long (only about six months).  I did not appreciate this theory.  Drew said that he thought they had been stirred up from the clearing of some trees just caddy-cornered from our backyard and that Edy was bringing them into the yard to play with.  I like his theory much better b/c that means that any relatives are still faraway.  And hopefully in hiding.