mouse | wordsfromanneli

Where is your mother, little mice?

You’d better get back into your nest.

Mama Mouse was found in an old apple box that, once she had jumped into it, was too high for her to jump out of.

Mama Mouse was exhausted from all the jumping efforts, and lay still after her rescue, soaking up the warmth until she recovered from her ordeal.

In a few moments, she perked up, and remembering her children, rushed to save them.

M is for Mighty Maisie the mama mouse and her three blind mice.

I know that some people are afraid of mice, but how do you think they feel about us?

Here is one of my favourite poems by Rose Fyleman:

Mice

I think mice
Are rather nice.
Their tails are long,
Their faces small.
They haven’t any chins at all.
Their ears are pink,
Their teeth are white.
They run about
The house at night.
They nibble things
They shouldn’t touch
And no one seems
To like them much.
But I think mice
Are nice.

You may remember my poor Maisie the Mouse who got caught by Emma, was rescued, and then bit her rescuer.

If you want a refresher, visit this link: https://wordsfromanneli.com/2023/08/29/whoever-said-life-was-fair/

Well, it seems that Maisie would not stay away after her lucky escape that time.

For about three days, Emma the English cocker spaniel had smelled something enticing in the kindling box outside the back door. It was not woodstove weather yet, so the box had some left over plant starter pots in it, but Emma kept dragging me over there. She wanted to investigate.

I was not interested in rooting through those old pots and have giant house spiders run over my hands so I kept Emma away from the box.

Finally, the Captain said, “Let’s check out what’s in that box.”

“You first,” I told him.

Rooting around in the bits of kindling and starter planting pots, the Captain searched for only a few seconds.

“Here it is! I wonder if it’s the same mouse that bit you. I should kill it or it’ll just end up chewing the wiring out of the truck one of these days, just like the last family of mice did.”

“Awww … no ….. It’s just a little mouse.”

“Well, okay.” He picked up the box and brought it over to the garden in front of the house. Maisie (I’m sure it was her) jumped to try to get out of the box but couldn’t get up high enough.

The Captain tipped the box on its side and Maisie ran out. She headed for a spot where I had dumped a lot of hazelnut and walnut shells, and snuggled into them. I think they must have been warm from the sun. Then she lay there and didn’t move except for the occasional twitching of her ears.

It’s oh, so warm and cozy here,

My last three days were cold.

No ray of sunshine did appear,

I feared I’d not grow old.

No drink of water, and no food,

And I could not get out,

I lost my usual happy mood,

Survival was in doubt.

But now I’m soaking up the sun,

It’s warming me clear through,

As soon as I feel I can run,

I’ll find something to chew.

*****

You see all those nutshells? I was the one who cracked them, as I do every year, but this time the nutcracker irritated a part of my finger right in the spot where Maisie bit me a month ago. It swelled up and the redness started to spread, so I went to see the doctor, and apologized for bothering him with such a small thing. He said, “You did right to come. You’ll need some antibiotics.” The spreading redness has receded now and I’m relieved.

But I still can’t get over how Maisie tried to kill me for rescuing her from Emma.

The Captain says I survived a wild animal bite. Sounds ferocious, doesn’t it?