Carl Sagan Learns that When God Closes a Door, He Always Opens a Window
I decide about a day ago the one of the cats' mousies had gotten gross beyond repair (mainly because Carl likes to dunk him in their water bowl), so I threw him out. I figured Carl would find something else to play with.
I'm sitting on the couch last night watching Kill Bill (vol. 1) with half an eye on Irene in regards to my coastally-located brother and traveling husband, listening to Carl batting something around in the kitchen. Which is what he does. He catches my attention when he comes pelting under the table in pursuit. I finally get wise to what is actually happening, and wander over to my two cats guarding one very tiny, very surprised deer mouse. Spot decides he's going to mainly supervise, so I have to try to wrangle the SWC away from Carl, who is too excited by developments to think in Spot's terms of strategic containment. Carl finally takes SWC back to the kitchen and drops him long enough for me to get the Mouse Box over it. One standard Ye Olde Balcony Toss later, calm is restored. But as he is new to the process, Carl remained in the kitchen the rest of the night, waiting for his new friend to reappear.
So what have we learned?
1) Local mice might not have a sense of smell, judging their choices in the face of the overwhelming smell of Cat in our apartment.
2) Carl is Spot's equal as a mouser; though Carl is the superior tracker and Spot is the superior strategist. When the SWC broke free, Carl was more able to follow its movements, though he seemed less able to envision ways to place the SWC in an area where it was less likely to get away in the first place.
3) When handling SWCs, it is best to have three sets of eyes on the job, be they human or feline. The ratios on that appear to be flexible and immaterial.
4) Never throw away cat toys, or they'll pull a Velveteen Rabbit, come to life, and exact their revenge.
I'm sitting on the couch last night watching Kill Bill (vol. 1) with half an eye on Irene in regards to my coastally-located brother and traveling husband, listening to Carl batting something around in the kitchen. Which is what he does. He catches my attention when he comes pelting under the table in pursuit. I finally get wise to what is actually happening, and wander over to my two cats guarding one very tiny, very surprised deer mouse. Spot decides he's going to mainly supervise, so I have to try to wrangle the SWC away from Carl, who is too excited by developments to think in Spot's terms of strategic containment. Carl finally takes SWC back to the kitchen and drops him long enough for me to get the Mouse Box over it. One standard Ye Olde Balcony Toss later, calm is restored. But as he is new to the process, Carl remained in the kitchen the rest of the night, waiting for his new friend to reappear.
So what have we learned?
1) Local mice might not have a sense of smell, judging their choices in the face of the overwhelming smell of Cat in our apartment.
2) Carl is Spot's equal as a mouser; though Carl is the superior tracker and Spot is the superior strategist. When the SWC broke free, Carl was more able to follow its movements, though he seemed less able to envision ways to place the SWC in an area where it was less likely to get away in the first place.
3) When handling SWCs, it is best to have three sets of eyes on the job, be they human or feline. The ratios on that appear to be flexible and immaterial.
4) Never throw away cat toys, or they'll pull a Velveteen Rabbit, come to life, and exact their revenge.