The Cat, Mouse, and Bat Games

Just days before his scheduled neutering, Nicky (the cat) ran away. This was not so unusual for him. Except that after a month, his has not returned. We are sad that he has decided to go away. However, our mice celebrated! Oh, and the spiders were rejoicing too.

The mice have made nests all over the kitchen. One such nest took advantage of the fact that during this heat, I haven’t been doing much cooking. It made a nice, big nest right in the middle of my oven. I was very lucky that it didn’t catch fire, because I didn’t discover it until after I pre-heated the gas oven and was about to put something inside. Perhaps the mouse was smart, because I suspect it’s nest was made up of fire-resistant insulation. Another nest was discovered in a rarely-used drawer. This one was made up of stolen Swiffer sheets. Very cozy!

We decided that we needed another, more dependable cat. In comes Gracie. We discovered her at a pet store. According to her paperwork, a couple had divorced and neither one could (or would) take Gracie. My son was smitten. He took my husband to see this cat and he became smitten. We rescued her on the spot. She is a young adult calico female with beautiful eyes and gray, white and peach coloring.

She is great. Her first night with her new family, we were pleasantly surprised to find out that she is not only sweet with both children, will use the litter box, and would cuddle with my son while he sleeps, but that she also went right to work hunting for the mice. No confirmed catch yet, but we are encouraged with her willingness to work.

Last night, a bat got into the house. It’s a little unnerving to wake up during the night to have something swoop down close to your head. But Gracie was on the job! She was jumping all over my bed (and me) to try to catch this critter. And she did! However, in pure cat fashion, she let it go again. We were able to catch it ourselves and let it go outside.

Sorry Nearly-Tailless Nick, if you’re still around, but you’ve been replaced. And I have to say, it is nice to have a cat with a tail!