Daniel's mouse (or baby rat)

Daniel came to the door so happy with a little critter in his mouth. I would not open the door for him, however, until he would drop it. Of course, then he would try to pick it up again to bring it inside as soon as I'd open the door again, because after all he came proudly bearing a gift to the ones he loves.

It went on like this until the mouse was able to dash into a small opening on the bottom of our hurricane shutter slider thingy (to be very technical).

Anyway, later I went to check to see if it had gone, and it hadn't and the poor thing seemed hot and afraid, so I did one of the many schizoid things one does in modern life. I got a little unused incense holder and filled it with water and took out a little seed to scoot in there.

I tried to take a photo to see the creature but it focused on the hedgehog staring in at him. Not a real one of course, but I think if I were a little thing hiding, those eyes would freak me out. So I moved it.

The really stupid thing about it all is that now I have to have the bait traps refilled with poison and end this growing population because ... well, you just have to or risk infestation for us and the neighbors. But, I really hate dealing with all of this kind of thing.

I know. It is "just a mouse" (or whatever), but still in just the few moments spent dealing with this issue, I have felt "oh poor little thing" and "we have to get them out of here" at the same time. I'm sure there is some sort of life lesson in there someplace, so I decided to put this in my journal to remember it.