Today's entry is provided by guest blogger Susan (my wife), who chronicled in an e-mail to our friends an adventure she had last night while I was away:
Okay, here's another example of "why I'm never going to win the mother of the year award." First, I have to fill you all in on something: I HATE little furry vermin. Mice, rats, gerbils, hamsters--DETEST them all. And I have a track record of not handling situations dealing with the little creatures well. Kevin still laughs when he thinks about the night a mouse ran across the family room carpet. I jumped onto the couch and started shrieking at the top of my lungs. I made the girls all climb on the furniture for about 20 minutes. Then I made them all sleep in Hillary's room, because I didn't want them in the basement. Irrational, yes. But that's just me.
Tonight when Suzanna was getting ready for bed, she heard a noise outside her window. Pretty soon Abigail is running up the stairs shouting, "There's a squirrel in Suzanna's wishing well!!" (Yes, she meant "window well"--but her version was cuter.) I went down to investigate, since Kevin isn't here to take care of it. Did I mention that I also hate to dispose of bugs? Just basically a big baby when it comes to any of those sorts of creatures. Suzanna's had little toads in her wishing well before, and Kevin found a little dead bunny in one of them once.
So, I walked into Suzanna's room, went to the window, and there was a furry little face staring in at me and clawing at the screen, trying to get out of the window well!!!! Suzanna said, "I think it's a rat!" I said, "No, it can't be a rat. It is probably just a little gopher." After a bit of discussion (they tried to persuade me that the creature needed to be rescued; I tried to convince them that it could wait until daylight), I decided to pretend I was "brave Mommy" for a while and give rescue a shot. I rummaged around upstairs until I found a flashlight (can you believe we hadn't packed it?!) then headed outside to find a shovel. It wasn't in the garage or sunroom. I finally had to venture out to the shed (across the VERY DARK back yard--already a little freaked out by the clawed creature lurking in the window well) and then fight with the rusted padlock (yes, I dropped the keys in the lawn and had to search for them), but I finally found the shovel. And so I headed over to the window well.
When I arrived at the window well, I looked down, and the girls had shut off the light in Suzanna's room and opened up the shades--the better to see me with! I did a quick once-around the window well with the flashlight, didn't see any fur, and decided it had escaped all on its own. Not so--the girls were happy to point out the little side corner where the creature was waiting--complete with 9-12 inch long tail!!!!! Do gophers have long tails like rats???? So, I turned around, put the shovel away, and returned to the house.
Suzanna and Abigail are sleeping together in Abigail's bed. The blinds are shut in Suzanna's room, and the shades are drawn. I realize that this is COMPLETELY irrational, but I don't really care. I might get brave enough to shovel out the creature tomorrow, or he might just have to stay there until Kevin returns. But, here's a lesson for all of you: cover your egress window wells to avoid this same problem!!!! Hmmmm....maybe I could get the kid next door to come over tomorrow and "free willy."
In case you're wondering, if it were a rabbit, I would have had no problems liberating it.
I COMPLETELY understand Susan's actions. I applaud her for even trying to be a 'brave mommy'. I would have shut the shade and told the girls the animal's parents are probably looking for it and he/she will be rescued by morning. If not, they would be welcome to free Willy themselves. I would stand back and safely capture the moment on film. :o) Thankfully my 'kids' (i.e. cats) take care of any critters in the house. Granted they usually play with the spiders and bugs until their legs fall off and then eat them, but as least I don't have to deal with them!
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