Monday, November 21, 2016

Beef Stew, Christmas Decor and a Mouse!


What a wild and crazy weekend we had.  It was not the peaceful,
relaxed, laid back one I had envisioned.  Do you have some time?  
This is going to be a fairly long post because it's full of lots of news.

Most of the day Friday was devoted to the installation of a new
security system in our house.  There have been a string of break-ins
in our normally quiet neighborhood, so it was time to update to
the latest technology.  No one has been hurt and the property that
has been stolen has been minimal, but home invasion in the middle
of the night is something none of us want to experience.  So, a
brand new system was installed to keep us feeling safe.



After taking Bentley for his last trip outside for the night, we set the alarm
and headed for what we expected to be a good night's sleep.  All was well
until 2 am when the alarm went off.  We jumped out of bed and stumbled over 
to the command center to see what was happening.  We checked the door
it was referring to with tactical flashlight in hand.  All seemed to be safe
and secure.   Why did the alarm go off and what could it possibly be
sensing that we could not see or hear?

David called the 24 hour number and went through some protocol with
them and we felt sure it was a false alarm.  The problem then was how to
get back to sleep?  We talked for a while and then fell asleep once again
only to be wakened at 4 am by another alarm.  This time we knew a bit
more and were able to trace the problem.  That was great, but we 
couldn't fix it and knew that we would not be able to get anyone out
until Monday, so we just accepted our fate.


On Saturday I started pulling out Christmas decorations.  I normally wait until
the day after Christmas, but I am just so anxious to begin decorating that I
gave in to my desires.  My plan is to give each room it's own theme.  Then
I headed out to the shops to fill the gaps.  Every year I like to combining old
and beloved favorites with something new.  


The weather is beautiful right now and since I want to spend as much 
time as possible outside, I will start with the back porch. 

After all my shopping was finished and the groceries put away, I 
prepared our usual platter of tasty little tidbits for our appetizer
Saturday night.  David had a cocktail, I had a glass of wine and
we settled in to watch college football.  It was the perfect quiet 
evening at home I had envisioned. 

Bentley went outside again for his last check on the backyard
for the night.  I went into the bedroom to change into pajamas
and a robe.  I heard  scratching and gnawing sounds coming from
inside my closet.  What is that???  

I went out to the family room and told David about the noises
I heard.  He said it was probably a mouse in the crawl space and
that he would get a trap the next day.  So with this bit of info
to assure me, I timidly opened the closet door.  No little animal
came out, but there was a small pile of sawdust on the floor
near the pocket door opening.  I ran back into the family room
to tell David, who by the way was NOT overly concerned about
it!  

That did it for me.  I decided to make sure that any of my 
good shoes were off the closet floor and into their appropriate
boxes on the shelves.  I swept up the sawdust and felt a bit
relieved that everything inside was neat and tidy and that
we would buy a trap the next day.  Then I drifted off to sleep
only to be aroused by the alarm that once again went off at
2 am.  


After a sleep deprived night, I had a surprising amount of energy.  I 
spent the early afternoon browning beef cubes and chopping onions and
carrots for beef stew.  Everything was going to be fine I decided.  That
happy, cheerful attitude all changed when I went back into the 
bedroom and heard the gnawing again.  No!!! Not again!!!

Off we went to Lowe's to find a product for eliminating the 
intruder.  When we got home, David opened my closet door and out
ran a little mouse.  He was pretty cute, but the only problem was 
that David didn't catch him and now he is hiding somewhere in the
bedroom.   



We could let Bentley's terrier hunting skills do the job, but I don't want that
either.  I spent last night sleeping in my studio while David slept in the big
chair and ottoman in the family room.  The door to our bedroom is closed.
Tomorrow, John our bug man, comes over to assess the situation.  I would be
happy to build the little mouse it's own house to live in if he would just be
willing to move out of mine.

Meanwhile, our alarm system has been tweaked and we should not have
any more false alarms.  Scratch one issue off the list :-) 

Big Texas Hugs,
Susan and Bentley 


8 comments:

  1. This post is like blog comfort food! :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Good Evening Susan, Oh my word, you have had such an upsetting time. I am sorry to hear there have been some burglaries in your neighbourhood, but with your new alarm system you will be very safe in your home. I think when new alarm systems are installed, they take a few days to settle down. I remember our neighbours alarm kept going off in the night and they couldn't find a problem. Eventually it sorted itself out.
    .... and then your little visitor in your wardrobe. We had a problem with a field mouse in our garage, so we bought a humane trap. Believe it or not, it is peanut butter which these little mice enjoy... I suppose that makes sense.
    I'm glad that your weekend finally settled.... and your beef stew would be the perfect antedote to an upsetting day.
    Best Wishes to you.
    Daphne

    ReplyDelete
  3. Life! Never dull and boring, is it??!!!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Oh my. What a weekend. I wouldn't have slept in the room with the mouse either. Yikes. Your Christmas looks like it is going to be darling.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Susan, you are a Hoot! I love your blog because I'm always drawn into your life and home. I feel right at home! Keep up the good work! I send my regards to Bentley and David-and the little mouse if he's still around! Beef stew looks good!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Oh, Susan! I'm sorry you've been waked up by false alarms (but I'm glad they were false) and I understand the mouse thing. Years ago I awakened one January night to hear "scritch, scratch, crinkle, scritch" coming from my closet. I turned on the light and opened the closet door and if the mouse had run out at me, I would probably have screamed bloody murder! BUT I found little bits of colored tinfoil on the closet floor. What in the world? Then it dawned on me that after filling my children's Christmas stockings on 12/24 (I'm a single mom) I had stashed the leftover Hershey's kisses in my closet because I was too tired to go put them in the kitchen. Who knew that mice liked chocolate? Or that they would find it in a bedroom closet? But they did, and the rest of the bag went into the trash. Several mouse traps later, we were done with that problem. I hope your mouse is gone by now. Happy Thanksgiving!

    ReplyDelete
  7. Alarms going off and mice running around, what a weekend!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Eek! Mice, I freak out with mice! Hope you get him.

    ReplyDelete

Oliver and I LOVE and read every comment.

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