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"IT WAS ONLY A MOUSE
November 18th. 2010
My day was going along nicely,
and I was getting little jobs done around the house,
that needed tending to.
Filling bird feeders.
Doing some house cleaning.
But my stomach was growling,
for I hadn't eaten all morning.
So I went into the kitchen
and got some leftover spagetti out of refrigerator.
Our boxer Lilah was busy drinking her water,
and I had put the spagetti in the microwave to heat up.
I got it out of the microwave
and turned around and there right in the middle
of the kitchen was this tiny little mouse.
Several days ago my husband Joe
put mouse poison around because
the mice were getting all over everything.
And in everything.
I looked at this little
mouse and he wasn't moving,
so I picked him up with a rag.
And that is when
my heart broke and tears flowed.
His little mouth opened up
as if he was crying in pain, asking me to help him.
I pet him and talked to him,
but knew the poison was taking it's toll.
He was so very sick.
I carried him outside,
and all the while telling God I am so sorry.
After all, was a mouse any different
then the birds or other critters my husband Joe
or I have taken care of over the years.
Some would say it is only a mouse.
It was too late to save this mouse,
but I wanted it to at least be outside
where he could find a place to end.
I put him in a pile of leaves
and covered him with more leaves
so the wind wouldn't bother him.
A few minutes later
I went out to cover him better with a cloth,
and he was gone.
~~~~~~~~ I really was quite beside myself
and wrote a couple very
close friends on line how I felt,
and asked them what they would do.
One told me a story of her dad coming back from a war,
and how her momma found a mouse with little ones.
Her dad got a broom and scooped them up
and took them outside. He didn't want to kill anything, not even mice.
Another friend suggested getting
humane mouse traps instead of using poisons
or traps or those sticky things,
and I sure did like that idea.
Some talk about the diseases mice carry,
and this is true, though in all my seventy some years,
and living in country, city, and here on God's mountain,
have never personally heard of anyone
getting sick from mice.
~~~~~~~~
Now for the rest of this story.
My Joe was in the army twenty six and a half years.
Tough,
and all military.
When he came home from work
and looked at me and saw I was upset.
I told him about this sick little mouse and the pain it was in.
That is when he went and picked
up all the mouse poison up and never again we will use it.
This is the caring side of this military man.
He went outside and
got an old humane animal trap that was in the shed,
put a piece of cheese on it,
and set it behind the portable dish washer.
We scrubbed all the shelves off with lysol,
and washed the dishes that were in the cupboards.
Joe also went to the hardware store
and bought two plastic Victor non-poison mouse traps.
When caught we can release them up in the mountains.
At least there they can do no harm
and will be with nature as it is intended to be.
I guess most
of us wonder what mice are good for,
and I have no answer,
just like some other critters we wonder about.
But God put them here as He did
all living creatures, and human beings.
We try to save what we can,
and yes sometimes dangerous or injured animals need put down.
~~~~~~~~
When my three children
were little we had cats,
dogs, bunnies, fish, hamsters, gerbils,
and yes even mice.
They loved them all.
And they took good care of them all,
and to this day still take care of many animals,
fish aquariums,
and birds in their own homes,
teaching their children about caring for animals.
Those of you who have held
any kind of a animal, a bird, a pet,
or wild life, and you see them sick or hurt,
you will try to make them better.
You might even shed a tear.
How awesome to mend a broken wing,
fix an injured leg or paw,
cleanse an open wound.
Some folks will even take
a critter to a veterinarian to be taken care of.
This is what makes us human.
Caring for each other,
critters and nature. ~~~ One thing Joe and I know,
we will never use poison again,
or any of kind of harmful devices.
To us it is inhumane,
and we learned this,
because of a very sick, dying mouse.
Maybe it was only a mouse
but it was living creature.
Written by Barbara L. Chambers Carter
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November 19th, 2010
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