http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8uwuLxrv8jY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yJ2yWvGnkI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTPko-aXvJM

Some months ago, I wrote about a woman who verbally abused me because she didn't like the way I parked. She basically thought I was too far into her driveway, and while I was close, I did get out and look before I left the car there, and I thought it would be sufficient. According to her, it wasn't, and she proceeded to call me names, berate me, accuse me of all manner of evil, etc. No amount of sincere apology on my part would appease her. She was furious at the world, and decided I was a good stand in for the world.

I was quite shaken by that encounter. Being verbally abused by a stranger is not something that happens to me regularly and it was not pleasant. I have, since that time, avoided that woman's house completely (not that I regularly parked there, though she did accuse me of "always" parking so as to block her driveway). I don't even park on the same side of the street.

Today, I arrived to park the car and wait for time to get Miranda and to my shock and amazement, there was a car smashed into the front of this woman's house. Where once there was a window and a wall, there was a pile of bricks, shattered glass, and a car shoved through the hole where the wall used to be. The damage, to say the least, was extensive.

While I try hard to avoid taking pleasure in the misfortune of others, I must admit, this seems to me to be a particularly satisfying turn of events. I mean, I'll bet she was mighty unhappy about how THOSE people parked...

Went to the pet store today to get some cat food and other supplies (like dog biscuits to feed to the mice as a treat) and they had two lovely little female mice in the store. I bought them both.

One is a lovely long-haired black mouse with a brown tummy, very pretty, and quite tame. Andrew suggested calling her Dahlia (crime buffs or Hollywood history fans will get the reference between that flower and the colour, I'm sure). The other has a really cute black and white pattern, and she's also quite tame, though smaller than Dahlia. Miranda decided that, since the mouse has a pattern somewhat like a cow, we should call her Daisy, because "that's a cow name" and, of course, it's a flower. So, Daisy she is.

We introduced Dahlia and Tulip to the cage and they both immediately started to explore, which is a promising sign when it comes to pet mice. Neither of them is particularly shy or timid. Tulip got into some sort of fight with Pansy, though, I don't know what it was about. Probably some sort of mousie dominance thing, with Pansy making sure Tulip knew just who was there first, etc. Shortly thereafter, Tulip was nestled in the little hidey house next to Pansy, so it seems they worked out their differences, whatever they were.

Now both Dahlia and Tulip are running in the wheel, which is always funny to watch, because one mouse will invariably run faster than the other and the rhythm of the wheel is very stop and go and the mice tend to trip over each other.

Lily and Pansy are hiding out in the hidey house as I write this. They've both had a rather exciting couple of days, so I suppose they need the rest.

I don't know if we're going to add any more. I think we could add one or possibly two more mice without overcrowding the cage, but it would have to be just the right mouse (maybe if I found a nice golden blonde mouse, I might be tempted).

Awww, little Pansy has come out of the hidey house and is grooming Dahlia. That's a good sign. They're making friends...

I'd forgotten just how much pleasure it can be to keep mice.

I'm watching a pair of rather cute mice as they explore their new home, a rather nicely constructed cage with lots of interesting things in it. They're both female mice, fairly young. One is white with pink eyes, and she's only about eight weeks old, so she's still quite small and only half tame (and she's a jumper, too!). The other is a gorgeous long-haired mouse with mottled pattern of white, brown, and black. She's much tamer and noticeably bigger than the other mouse, and she's about twelve weeks old.

The pink and white mouse is called Pansy. The mottled mouse is called Lily.

I'm not sure why I decided to get mice again, after not having them for about fifteen years. I actually prefer rats, but they need a lot more room and the initial outlay for them is quite a bit higher. I think what triggered this desire was seeing a brown and white spotted mouse in a pet shop a few weeks ago, because that little mouse reminded me of Spot the Wonder Mouse, a remarkable and beautiful little creature who was the last mouse I had. Well, at least until now.

I expect we'll get a few more mice (all female, thankyou, I'm NOT going into the mouse breeding business!) as we go on. For now I'm going to concentrate on taming little Pansy (who, just for the record, gave Andrew a rather nasty bite on the thumb earlier; it's not her fault, she was frightened and his smell was unfamiliar) and making sure that both of these little mice have a happy mouse life in their new home.

Feeding them dry whole wheat spaghetti earlier seems to have been a pretty good start...

If you've got some time and bandwidth to spare, I can really recommend Behind the Dracula Legend. Fascinating history and folklore, and it even has a vampire princess. Way cool, well worth watching.

As exerpt from a speech by Jason Wood, Member of Parliament, which just might make you laugh out loud...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdM3N_GRo1s

Warning: This game might be addictive. It's also quite challenging. I don't know how many times I played it before I finally managed to trap that darned cat. The thing is as wiley and agile as a real cat!

Play Circle the Cat