Meow!

Good news! Our mouse problem has decreased significantly! Partly because Adam has caught so many in traps, but also because they’re scared to show their furry little faces around the house and car now.

We have cats. And the cats are very interested in all the places where the mice have been hanging out.

We’ve gotten eight free cats so far. One from Adam’s dad, three from the neighbor of a relative, and four from the neighbor of a camp friend. Of the eight, two ran off right away (which is normal with wild cats), but the other six are happy, friendly (more or less), and very playful. The girls love watching them pounce and chase around the dirt pile by the playroom window. And they love petting cats and carrying them around when we’re outside, now that the cats are roaming free. (If you’ve ever gotten new cats on a farm, you may be familiar with the strategy of keeping them penned up for a few days until they are used to you, with the hope that they’ll be more likely to stick around. And it also gives unfamiliar cats a chance to get to know each other.)

Emmy, of course, wanted to help name them. Loosey got loose from her cage before we were ready to set her free. Hidey likes to hide. Stripe is yellow with orangeish stripes. And then Adam and I named the other three that have stuck around, which are Uriah, Marlene, and Lynn. They are the smallest and most adventurous. Uriah escaped from the box in the car on the way home. Gwen and Emmy thought that was hilarious, but Agatha did not appreciate the kitten crawling up her car seat and climbing on the window next to her. (Bitey tried to bite Adam through his gloves and Climby climbed the walls of the cage, to the point of being upside down. Both Bitey and Climby ran off. We were disappointed, though their names may not reflect that type of feeling.)

So even though I wasn’t really wanting to add to our pet population yet, it’s worked out pretty well. The girls are happy. We have some fun, free entertainment to watch out the window. But I especially love the part where my car no longer smells like mice. Now if we could just get Stripe to quit climbing the screen door…….