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