The Mouse & The Snow

Okay, little dude. You have no way of understanding or appreciating this, but this is better than being in the cold. This is better than your neck getting snapped. I understand that you're just trying to get by. You're just trying to live and eat and stay safe. But in here, you can do that until it gets warmer outside.

That's what I said to Mus, my new pet house mouse. For the past few weeks, I've been finding his little gifts along my countertop and in my pots and pans. I finally purchased a kill-free trap.

Last night, I fell asleep to the howling wind and woke up to a whirring coming from the kitchen. I was too lazy to check on the whirring, though, and went back to sleep.

You have a mouse, Brian said when I woke up.

And he's a cute little thing. He has a cow-lick going on at the top of his head. I named him Mus (the Latin name for the House Mouse is Mus musculus). It was fitting for his mussed-up hair.

So, the day had a mousey start as well as a snowy one. Finally.

I watched the flurries from my window at work, anticipating a nice snowy hike with Silas after work. I got home and messed around, getting things ready for my hike and in the ten minutes that I was inside, a snow squall blanketed the roads and I witnessed a car slide into a parked car when making a turn. The roads were bad.

Good thing I have an AWD.

Silas knows when it's time for a hike. Mama puts on her hideous orange coat. Mama puts weird gadgets in her hip sack. Mama puts the big shoes on (I finally donned my Abominable Snowman hiking boots!). Mama holds out the hot-pink-glow-collar. It's a funny sight to see--Silas somberly walks over to me, slowly, and pretty much bows in my presence. Instead of being excited and dancing, he's subdued. I put his balloon booties on and it was time to hit the road.

I decided against going up the Allegheny Front for fear of horrible driving conditions, so I went in the opposite direction toward Brush Mountain on Kettle Road. When we drove that way this past Sunday, I saw a random trail snake its way into the woods. We'll have to check that out someday, I told Silas.

So that's what we did today.

The snow was still falling, but that doesn't stop us. The mountainside was rocky, precarious, but lovely covered in snow. I'll have to go back again someday when I have more daytime to explore.

I'm also pleased to announce that some birds have found my feeders. Glad to help them out.