Bunny-mouse

People hunt in Wisconsin. I have found that when the hunters are not hunting, they are talking about hunting or teaching their young children about how to hunt...Even women are hunting! It isn't that I am against hunting, I just personally don't find there to be much sport in killing the big strappin' struttin' Tom Turkey that visits our bird feeder several times a day, feathers all fanned out, displayed to his harem...or shooting a regal 15 point buck that has survived the harsh winters and endless SUV's of Wisconsin, it just doesn't have any appeal to me...actually it reminds me of shooting a St. Bernard. I know there is tremendous sport in hunting, it just isn't my cup of tea.

Several months, Otto walked out in our garage and started sniffing the undercarriage and the two front wheels of our station wagon. (Ottowgn) Normally my husband pays me no attention when it comes to odors in the house because I am forever smelling something and complaining about it. He can't smell anything. I can smell a mildewed sponge from thirty yards out but my sense of smell pales in comparison to Otto's...so I joined him in sniffing the car. I smelled nothing, he smelled something and that was good enough for me, the search was on.

Nothing exciting came the first night of blood hounding in the garage except that our black lab was now feverishly snorting in the wheels of the car. However, the next day, I went to grab Otto's leash off of the hook in the garage and I spied three little black perfectly segmented unmistakable droppings in the corner. I calmly called my husband to tell him we had a mouse in the garage. He didn't believe me. That is so annoying, it makes me feel like a child having to explain the exact location of the monster in the closet. I showed him the droppings whereupon he started ranting, "Oh my God, Oh MY GOD, do you know how much damage rodents can do to the electrical system in the car? DID I HAVE ANY IDEA?? Why those little bstrds could eat an ENTIRE system...let alone the TREMENDOUS DAMAGE they can do to the under-something harness. Then he tells me that I need to go to Farm and Fleet and get two mouse traps, that he would go but well...he wouldn't know what to get and could I please go right away. I thought to myself, he can't go because his founding member PETA club card might accidentally fall out while he was shopping for a mouse rifle.

My husband is a member of every "Save the..." in the world. He hates women in fur, he releases every fish he ever caught, he traps spiders instead of stepping on them. He doesn't eat veal! He is a gentle soul, a protector of all life .....unless that life happens to be potentially messing with the wiring of his car. Amused, I came back with two of the quick-snap old fashioned mouse traps and found that he had already opened the package of smoked aged gouda cheese that I have been saving. Otto, like most dogs, adores anything smoked. He was sitting like a turkish soldier, drooling, watching him carefully cut two perfect cubes. Otto never ever drools. My husband looked at me and said, "You know, for their last supper I think that it should be a good one." Down went the two traps, one under the front tire, one under the rear. The entire garage smelled like a smoke house.

Otto hears everything, I smell everything, husband sees everything. Not more then 15 minutes passed before we all heard, WHAAMM! Otto started barking, hackles up and hauling back to the garage. Frankly, I expected my husband to have a slight bit of remorse for killing the little rodent and was suprised when he gloated, "GOTCHA!" Poor guy, he was one inch short of a gouda feast.

For a joke, we were going to hold the mouse's ears up like the hunter's all do when they photograph their big game and send it out for our Wisconsin Xmas card but thought better of it, instead, we mounted the remainder of one of Otto's most favorite stuffed animals, Bunny-mouse, over our fireplace. It is a reminder of fall garage hunt. To this day, no one has noticed it and it just tickles me everytime I look at it.

For a better view, click on the picture.