Stahlke Adoption

From the Sublime to the Ridiculous

Late at night, Jonathan and I lay on the bed in our small apartment, trying to fall asleep. Our dogs Alabama and Dakota curl up with us on the double mattress, which we wish could be bigger. Suddenly, all four of us hear tiny, scampering feet in the kitchen, just two or three yards away through an open door.

The dogs sit up, look at each other as if to say, "Did you hear that? Are you going in there? No way!" They put their heads back down and ignore the sound.

It's up to Jonathan and me to investigate. The dog food bin in the kitchen has teeth marks on it, where the rat tried to get in. We find the hole in the wall where he entered the house, and luckily he left the same way he came.

We called the landlord the next morning, who put out poison. The rat died under the house, and we endured the stench for quite some time.
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Today, fourteen years later . . .

Jonathan and I pull ourselves out of bed, and he turns the light on in the bathroom. As I stand in the kitchen, I notice a quick flash of brown fur, and then a full glimpse of a large mouse diving under the stove. The bin with the teeth marks sits on our back porch, and I decide to put it back into service for the dog food. In addition, I locate more of our sonic mouse repellers to put in outlets around the house. Dakota wanders into the kitchen, sniffs at the floor near the stove, and then saunters away to undertake other pursuits.

Some things never change. I wish we could get a cat.

posted by Stahlkes @ 11:04 AM