Mrs. Frisby’s Hideaway

Yesterday I was out doing my weekly cleaning of the chicken coop when I found a little surprise. As I was sweeping out the hen house, out popped a little field mouse from one of the nesting boxes! It startled me, but I didn’t jump up and down shrieking or anything. A little pat on the back for that one…

I went along cleaning and noticed water had gotten into my straw bale, molding the bottom half. As I began pulling out the wet pieces to distribute in my garden beds, a mouse, possibly the same mouse, jumped out of the straw bale and darted off. Again, no shrieking…

What am I suppose to do? The city-girl inside of me says “Ew! Get rid of them! They could spread disease! blah blah blah…” But that doesn’t really make sense… The mouse wasn’t scary looking – plus it’s outside and I haven’t seen any in the house, especially with our resident cat hanging around. It was more like a friendly, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH kind of a mouse. It’s cold and wet outside, so why not let them cozy up in the unused corners of the coop and garden?

Now, if there was a rat living out there… I’d be all over getting it outta there. Sorry if that is offensive, but city rats are disgusting. They horde and they can be aggressive. Yeah, I shudder just at the thought.

I’m going to let the little mouse/mice be. My garden is big enough for everyone, again assuming we are not talking rats. And it is kind of sweet to think of Christmas morning coming along, with cozy comfort for everyone. Including a little field mouse snuggling up somewhere in a pile of my straw.