One of my friends has the pleasure of living in the country. I love the country. I miss living in the country. What I don't miss though, are all the wild critters that come with country living! Today she posted on facebook that she got pulled over for inattentive driving. The reason? A mouse was in her car! (I would have gone in the ditch.) It reminded me of another mouse story from when I was a little girl. My parents, brother and I lived on a little hobby farm. Our "garage" was an old building my dad had hauled in from another farm. There wasn't a floor, so the floor was actually dirt. We kept our chopped wood, a few bales of hay, and the dog food in there. All the farm mice thought it was their penthouse! My mom had a candy apple red rambler. She loved that car. She picked out the color and had it painted with little flecks of silver. She also recovered the seats herself with a furry red, black and white fabric. Back in those days, that car was considered COOL! The ceiling was made out of that cardboard that looks like egg cartons. The problem was, she had to park the car in that old garage....with the mice. (It was that or outside.) The mice chewed little holes in the corners of the cardboard car ceiling and stored their dog food up there. You could see little foot marks where they clung to the rubber lining around the windows. The fun part for my brother and I was every time she drove around a corner, the dog food would come pouring out! We would have so much fun catching that dog food! My mom would get so mad. She hated those mice! There is one car trip I'll never forget. My mom was driving, I was sitting in the middle and my brother was on the other side of me. (This was pre-seatbelt days!) There was a hump on the floor that ran down the middle of the car. I used that hump as a foot rest. (Still not sure what that hump was for. Anyone know? The muffler?) As my mom was driving down the road, I happened to look down and there sitting on the hump plain as day, was a mouse! I screamed on the top of my lungs and flung myself into the backseat. Screaming on the top of her lungs, my mom pulled over and we both litterally fell out of the car. My sweet brother just laughed and laughed. I don't remember if the mouse ran out or what happened after that, but I do know after that little incident, catching the dog food wasn't so fun anymore.
Mice can be such kill joys.
