Crunchy

There are so many wonderful things about living out in the countryside. The peace and quiet, the birdsong, the shade of tall trees, rolling meadows ...

One of the not-so-nice aspects of country living is rodents. This winter, we became unwilling hosts to swarms of field mice, who moved in to our old house and spent a warm and cozy season at what they obviously thought was a first class B&B.

It is not all that unusual for me to come downstairs of a morning, and discover a stash of some sort of food in the cutlery drawer in the kitchen. Today's hoard, decoratively arranged amongst the knifes, forks, and spoons is bits of kibble from Sally's dish. It must have taken quite some time for an industrious mouse to transfer all those little pieces from the floor up to the drawer last night! Once, I found the entire contents of a bag of dried pasta crowded in amongst the silverware, and last year when our old dishwasher gave up the ghost, the man who came to install a new machine pulled out the old one only to find the entire top covered in a thick, insulating layer of Purina One lamb and rice flavoured dog food. I've even found small piles tucked inside my wellington boots!

I do think it's a bit much that I am still discovering these little caches. It's June, for goodness sake, and any self-respecting mouse should have moved back outside by now! I suppose I must blame the incredibly rainy weather we've been having. Well, time to load the dishwasher and scrub out the drawer ... hope you have a mouse-free day!

PS: Look who came for lunch today!