Say hello to my little friend - Herman the Ermine. Or Winston the Weasel. A Short tailed weasel to be exact - who knows how to get into our home!
The sneaky albeit cute little bugger made it in how? We thought thru an open door while we loaded groceries into the house - but perhaps not? Time goes by - it seems there is a deeper mystery in our home!
Ok we live in the countryside - so there are mice and squirrels oh and did I mention we had two moose behind the house a couple o days ago? But I digress dear reader. Seems that ermine - the short tailed weasel's winter name with his snowy coat, and black little tip o the tail - are mice's sworn enemy predator! Now having said that, there is nary a poop, sighting or nest of a mouse in our house.
Picture if you will, two grey haired and perhaps less than athletic humans, happily asleep on a work night, awakened by a shrill unidentified chirping. Smoke detector? Nooo, a bird? a Mouse or Bat? No - so after waking the man o the house, the two of us armed with our trusty broom see a white streak running along the base of the wall - it's the Ermine!!
The sleek little Herman was very vocal in his late night encounter with our two cats - they didn't try to eat him, just were curious and so pursued him and tried to sniff him (perhaps before tasting?) Ala "Griswalds Christmas" the varmint was herded to the door and Pop - out he went. Problem solved! Cats settled into bed, all was well.
Now we have become more aware of our furry little neighbor who lives, we think, in the open garage attached to our Shouse. The odd rustling, the occasional footy prints give him/her away, like the mice who foolishly wander in from the cold.
Larger neighbors, like the two aforementioned moose, delight us - lots of Mule deer live around here, one was peeping Bambi, the other evening. How cool is that!
Bambi bounced out of our snowy yard, belly deep making its way to the line of trees that run behind our place. You can see where they land in the snow - big dips. Sort of how a dog navigates deep snow, jumping along and landing in a snowy belly flop!
Along with the four legged critters, we have a whole "unkindness" of ravens who will in a flash gather and get into the best of bagged garbage, whose vocalizations entertain me and make me think they really are talking about me.
So back to the story - last night as Hubby and I sat down to dinner I heard a loud unmistakable chirping - what the heck? I got up, hoping the noise came from a new very loud cat toy I had purchased. There it was, undisturbed. Cats were on guard - staring at "Something" And what is looking out at from under our television stand? Cute little face with shiny beady black eyes?
It's Herman!! Under the TV stand. Chirping at me - the hunt was on!
Again the trusty broom is employed, we worked as a team and briefly routed it out - a 6" white streak who did not want to be caught or shooed outside! And then - POOF he was gone.
And so the plot thickens. There is either a way for Herman to get in and out of our house which we are yet to find OR he's gone to ground waiting for us to go away.
All rooms have been searched. No holes have been discovered. The only possible egress would have to be the water heating system - but that is a slim chance because it's all self contained in the house. Hmmm. So dinner finished, we settled in for the night. No sign of our intruder. If he came out during our slumber, the cats would chase him and he'd make a lot of noise, we'd have to just get up and try again to oust him.
Last night we slept like the dead, not even cats made noise until the 5:30 a.m. meowing went off. This morning - no sign of our cute little friend. Sadly tho, we cannot share out house with this overgrown mouse....and so a trapper will come try to get him from the garage where we know he hangs out. Alas poor Herman. He's likely full and fit after most likely feasting on cat food. Tho we never have seen him nor signs of him - apparently he knows how to get around. I personally hope he gets away - moves to a new hidey hole and never comes into our domicile again. For his own good!
As our neighbor said when he shoveled our truck out of a huge drift in the driveway last week - "Welcome to the Peace Country". It's a glorious place to live, in a wonderful warm home with amazing good neighbors who happen to be our landlords. Neighborlords? Friends is what I'll call them from here on in!
As I type the snow has stopped, we are drifted in and waiting to be plowed out so we can get into our work in town. I love it. Who would have thunk it?
