When Ashley was eleven, her cousin Katie, aged nine, came to spend the summer here with us. They were looking through drawers to find dress up play clothes while playing in a back bedroom when they found a big surprise. It seems like Mrs. Mouse used a dresser drawer to deliver her three babies. The girls retrieved the newborn babies, but the mama got away. They put the babies in a jewel box and brought them in to me. I told them the humane thing to do was to flush them down the stool. They both stiffened and were visually shaken...aghast that their grandma would suggest such a horrible thing.
Well.... anyway they decided they would catch the mama. Would you believe it? They did! I was astounded! They placed the whole family in a plastic play box that I gave them. I gave them strict orders to take them to the granary. You see...I am about as bad as they were about killing things, but I could also visualize those creatures as adults that are nasty and chew up everything. These mice were not the usual gray house mouse, but a pretty (if you can say that) field mouse. They looked like a baby deer in color and the eyes the same. They hop/run like a kangaroo and are hard to catch.
The two girls said their final goodbye and sent mama mouse and her babies away with a piece of bread. Both girls are so sentimental and I know where they got it too. I could never kill anything except a snake, spiders and biting insects.
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