BATTLE RENEWAL

Our cooling trend became even cooler yesterday. I finally switched from sweatshirt to t-shirt mid-afternoon and wished for my sweatshirt again in about an hour. It felt downright chilly last night. I abandoned my summer nightie and dug out my winter pajamas. I also let the electric blanket warm the bed. And this morning I’m enjoying a pot of gingerbread tea – my first of the officially unofficial holiday season. (Christmas is fair after Labor Day in Kathy’s world.)

Naturally, the cool air speaks to the mice and tells them it’s time to move indoors. Rodent infestation is a fact of life in the country. However, it’s essential to keep fighting or the mice will take over. I’m afraid I became a bit complacent during the hot months when they were less visible, though I know the enemy is never far away. I can hear him/her/them in my walls. Gnaw, gnaw, gnaw – scratch, scratch, scratch.

You know, I think mice are a little like Santa Claus when he’s on his way to town:

They see you when you’re sleeping;

They know when you’re awake;

They know if you’ve been bad or good,

So be good for goodness sake! – with good meaning that you’ve cleaned your kitchen counters, sealed all food away, and picked up the dog’s dish.

So, I arrived in my kitchen this morning to discover that my rather lax effort to clean the kitchen after last night’s late supper had provided the enemy just the opportunity for which she (I’ll call her “she”) was waiting. Specifically, she gnawed a bread sack containing a couple of slices of stale bread. (Yes, I know -- the photo is blurred.) I’m sure she hoped the crumbs she left to dry will be available to her tonight. Ha! Will she ever be surprised by my clever foil!

So, today is the day. The kitchen must be cleaned from stem to stern. The task seems daunting. Unlike my mother-in-law, my husband, and my daughter, my make-up is anything but methodical. Although I appreciate method and system and acknowledge that those who move the world must be methodical, I am a dreamer. I take comfort in knowing that the movers must have the dreamers and the dreamers the movers in order that the world might be balanced. Nevertheless, philosophy did not help today when I had to clean the kitchen. I took a deep breath and told myself that today I only have to do the counters and the stove.

Yes, that’s it – just the counters and the stove. I can do it.

No sympathy for the enemy now. That’s treason talk. No mention of how cute they are either. KW

Tomorrow: A Trip to the Attic