"It's a Hard World for the Little Things"

Yesterday morning Kobi brought me a tiny little mouse she had killed in the yard. It was 7:15 a.m. She brought it inside and laid it on the carpet in the living room and then stood looking at it in what appeared to be complete bewilderment. I don't think she intended to kill it... only to catch it... and she couldn't figure out why it stopped moving.

It was such a tiny little thing - very sweet, with its itsy little feet and itsy little whiskers. I felt sad for it as I wrapped it in a paper towel and laid it (gently) in the kitchen garbage can. I didn't tell Grayson. We've had enough animal death this year.

I know... there are more than enough little mouseys in the world, and bigger things eat littler things, but it was still sad.

I don't know why I'm so drawn to all the little animals in the world. I want rats and mice, hamsters, ducks, kitties, chickens, little colorful finches, toads, tiny little impractical dogs, hedgehogs, bunnies.... anything small and cute. I'd have a veritable petting zoo if left to my own devices, and if only all the animals would get along!

But I have plenty of experience in one pet killing another. Or, more accurately, in dogs killing all manner of other pets. Gogo killed Holmes the hamster. Izzy killed Peanut Butter the cat. Roxy killed the chickens. The cats killed the mouse we tried to keep at the house on 20th. At least the ducks were killed by wild animals (raccoons), not by members of my own animal family.

Still... there's something about that warm, vulnerable little life in your hands that just grabs hold of your heart and squeezes. Maybe one day, in my old age, perhaps, I'll limit my household to only small, gentle creatures that all get along together. Then I can have all the birds and mice and bunnies I want.

** About the mouse image. I got it from my friend Mike Frederickson in Seattle, who got it from this web story about an artist who uses taxidermied mice in her work, so I thought I should give her credit for creating the beautiful, if slightly creepy, mouse angel. The title quote is from Raising Arizona :)