And his name ain't Mickey either!

Can you guess? Who do you know with the name Mickey? Yep, you guessed it...a MOUSE! I wish it was just M-I-C-K-E-Y- M-O-U-S-E, but it is definitely not!

There are only few times during the day when things get quite around here and between 2-3pm is one of those times. Today was no exception. It was around 2:30pm and I walked in to the kitchen to see Peaches sitting on the floor and she was staring at my feet.

It was really odd, because Peaches has been living on top of my kitchen cabinets for about 6 months. She went up there when we brought Frankie (new kitten) home and then, when we brought Buddy (new doggie) home, she really wasn't coming down. I've had to make "allowances" for her. She is a very old cat, 12 human yrs, and has literally lost hair since we added the other animals to the house. I often refer to her as "hairless butt". She doesn't seem to mind. Those who know Peaches find her grouchy and most hate her. I, however, am very fond of her and really miss the time we would share in the evenings after the kids were in bed. But, getting rid of her isn't an option, so I've made her as comfortable as I can on the top of my cabinets and everone is happy, relatively.

Back to the story...so she's looking at me and I think: "Is it my shoes? And why are you down here?" I take a couple steps and I see her focus on something under the stove. I've seen this look before. It has to be a mouse. Now, Frankie is no where to be seen, and is much faster and, well, YOUNG. I told Emily to go find her while Peaches & I kept a close look out for Mickey. As soon as Emily brought Frankie in the kitchen, she heard "Mickey" and zeroed in on it, too. It was really funny, both of them sititng in front of the stove watching, crouched low, like tigers on the safari waiting for the kill. Frankie has no experience with mice, so she doesn't have a care in the world. Peaches takes a couple steps back and the mouse comes right out! Frankie is just standing there, frozen! I wonder what was going through her funny mind. Mickey went quickly back under the stove and the afternoon was filled with nothing, but watching these two cats wait for the mouse to return. The kids were amused and I thought, man if we lived on a farm I wouldn't have to buy any toys, because the cat and mouse games would surley keep them occupied.

We left for church, and I quietly prayed, "Lord, please don't let them get blood all over my house if they catch that thing." To add to the excitement, during dinner time at church, Mary Beth was going from table to table telling everyone: "We have a mouse under our stove and Frankie and Peaches are going to do their job while we were gone." The kids were all chicken when we first came home, so I opened the door and told them the coast was clear. We walked in the kitchen, of course, all the kids behind me and I told them I didn't hear anything and Peaches was sleeping. Then Micah whispers, "Mom, we need to call Scott." Of course, I respond with "Why?" "Because, Scott says he can hear a mouse fart." He was so serious and I thought I was going to loose it. I tried to keep my face stern and quickly reminded him that we don't use that word in our home. He apologised and I still had to keep my self together. As soon as I saw David's headlights in the drive way, I ran outside to tell him. He laughs and says, "We really have a mouse?" I was like, yeah, where have you been? Obviously, Mary didn't make it to the table where her father sat for dinner.

I don't know if the mouse stayed under the stove, went somewhere else in the house or left completely. I hope it's the latter. I hate killing the poor little things, but this is MY house and we can't both live here.

The trap has been set and if nothing happens, I guess I'll be calling Scott tomorrow, since he has such great listening powers!