Ponder this:

Sunday, December 28, 2008

MiMau on a Mouse House

I've been aware of this mouse house for weeks.

One day I was wandering around down near this stump, making a ball out of burdocks, and decorating the outside of the burdock ball with milkweed fluff.

I thought it would be a nice natural Christmas decoration.

I happened upon the stump, and saw a whole pile of milkweed fluff caught, "from the wind," I thought, in a cranny on top of it. As I was adding to my ad hoc holiday decor, an alarmed field mouse popped out of a hole on the side of the stump and ran like water down into the stonewall below.
I was looting her roof insulation.

I gave the situation a few minutes' thought, and jammed my whole burdock and milkweed fluff ball into the cavity in the stump. The white patch to the right of MiMau's front paws is the weathered result. I see the stump's residents have made some alterations, too. Some of the insulation has been moved here and there to stop up drafty cracks.

On occasion, I stick some seeds from a nearby maple tree into the stump's crevices. It appears that the mouse family has appreciated that donation. The seeds are gone and only the "wings" of the seeds remain.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I love that you've become an unofficial landlord for mice.

There's a mouse that lives under one of the horse's stalls where I work on weekends. I've never seen her, but I know she's there because there's a hole in the corner that's always clear. I always make sure her porch is swept clean on the days that I'm working there.

June said...

I wonder if your mouse does a little of her own tidying up before her cleaning lady arrives... ;-)