Autumn. Or Grab a Mouse First Thing in the Morning and …
You can tell it’s fall by the beautiful colors. The bountiful harvests. The mice trying to sneak in the house for winter.
The “grab a mouse” part of the title comes from a bookmark I got in college which said, “Eat a frog first thing in the morning… and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day.” It amused me so much I carried it around for years. And so we lead in to my scary tale. This is the season for scary tales (tails?)…
It began this morning when I was trying to sleep in a little. The closer we got to morning, however, the worse things seemed to go. I had been awakened several times by one of the cats playing wildly next to the bed and the activity didn’t show any signs of slowing. She recently discovered my husband’s long lost childhood rabbit’s foot and adopted it as her new favorite toy, She tosses in the air and dashes around madly–usually at the worst times.
Once in awhile a call of “Shh, shh, Sophie” will silence the commotion, but not usually. In that case, I stumble out of bed, toss the offending toy outside the room, and close the door. So in the dark of early morning I got up, not even grabbing my glasses and squinted over at the cat. I grabbed the small furry object next to her then let out a blood curdling scream–it was a still warm dead (I hoped) mouse.
Meet Sophie
My husband was making coffee downstairs and ran to my rescue. The cat took off like a bolt of lightning. I raced to the bathroom and started scrubbing vigorously. Our youngest, in the room next door, pulled her pillow over her ears (she told me later).
And I’m pretty sure nothing worse will happen to me today.
Since I pretty much lost my appetite (and I’m still not sure my hands are clean), I am not cooking for you today. But here are some pictures from the beautiful autumn that I hope you will enjoy! No mice pics, I promise…
Peninsula State Park
Spider Web
Wild Turkey
Blackberries
Asters in many colors
Horse apples
Lots of Pumpkins
Oh mice tails aren’t nice tales are they?!
But I loved your photos – th ecoastline with the autumnal colours looks stunning, with the trees dropping right down to the waters edge like that, oh how I’d enjoy a ramble around there!
Claire x
Thanks Claire. Long time no “see”-hope you have been well! Most of the photos are from the area we plan (someday) to retire to; you can probably tell why we picked there.
oh no! mouse in your hand..yikess! hahaha! enjoying reading your scary tale !
Glad you enjoyed my story Lena. Some good must come out of an experience like that, right?
You can tell you’re from the Northwoods, Inger. Mouse stories! 🙂 Enjoyed reading this tale and the way you spun it into a fun adventure.
I knew I had to post this after you mentioned that you’d like to see more of the cats on the blog Kathy. Though something more sedate (cats sleeping together?) would have been preferable…
I am glad you posted!
Your photos are so beautiful! But yes, I agree I would have SO lost my appetite too!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Thanks Uru. Alas, not enough for a long term diet plan 😉
Beautiful pictures! And you are a writer, Inger!! Well-done little story. Cat and mouse stories are among the best! Thanks for sharing. I love it.
You are so kind Freeda! Yes, this is the second cat and mouse story I’ve shared. Nice as they may be for a tale, I’d be happy to do without!
The pictures are beautiful! I love this time of year. And I did enjoy your cat story too, even though I would have been horrified also! Your cat is adorable.
Thanks Maryann. The cat is my “baby” just over a year old, but has taken over as the champion mouser in our house. Of course, I’d be happier still if she didn’t need to work at all…
Unlike you, Inger, I am speechless! The first thing that came to my mind was that cimmercial where the person thinks she is calling the dog in and it turns out to be a raccoon!
I can’t even begin to think of ways to help relieve your terror! I must say though these pictures sure do help a lot. Such beauty and simplicity all wrapped up into a picture perfect Autumn.
Thank you so much for sharing, Inger. I’m sure your day had to eventually get better.
Well I was pretty speechless at the time Louise–unless screaming counts as speech ;-). It does sure make me glad we have the cats. We’ve got traps out that haven’t caught a thing.