Our dog's not so stupid after all!

This morning I came downstairs to see my husband standing at the front hall closet with a perplexed look on his face. He had just put food in the dog's bowl - we store the dog food and birdseed in that closet. I asked him what was wrong. He didn't say anything for a bit...just kept looking around. Then he finally spoke. "I think something just ran out of the closet." SOMETHING???? My heart stopped for a minute. Then he assured me that it might have just been a tumbleweed of dog hair that flew across the floor. He might have convinced me...except he set a mousetrap in the closet....to catch dog hair with a piece of cheese I guess. I caught a glimpse of the chipmunk outside, so I knew it wasn't him in our house! When I got out of the shower, the dog was whimpering and busily rooting around trying to sniff behind the love seat in the living room. All of sudden it made sense...the ending to the perfect mother's day (see May 14 blog) when the dog drove us all crazy in the night...she was not just being stupid after all! (It wasn't the only night she did that either). My son says he saw 'a mouse or rat' come down the stairs to the family room this afternoon. Sooooo somewhere in this room where I type, there huddles a rodent...perhaps watching our feet walk by....perhaps eyeing the nearby trap. Shudder. This all freaks me. They climb stairs. They eat your food. They chew electrical wires. And if there's one.....are there more? Oh, and speaking of more......I sat outside this evening to watch the mother rabbit feeding her 5 youngsters again. When finished, mom hopped across the lawn and the babies all jumped out to scamper behind her. Yowie! There were 7 of them!! No wonder the dog's been so whiny and hyper - scampering little rodents inside and out!

I know that experts suggest you get rid of birdseed around your property to help curb the mice problem. But I need the birdseed to feed the rabbits and squirrels because they eat less of your plants that way. Make sense? I just hope my daughter doesn't stop coming to visit us. I mean, she's gotten accustomed to living with centipedes that used to freak her out....and mice have far fewer legs!