Monday, July 11, 2011

There are lots of good reasons people invented shoes...

Like to keep your toes warm in winter.  And because walking a long distance is rough on bare feet.  And because stepping on sharp things hurts. 

Of course, none of those seemed to apply late this morning as I was attempting to herd five children outside.  (We were babysitting.)  I opened up our back door and three of the kids stampeded outside, leaving just Katie to scoop up and another little girl who needed help with her sandals.  Our backyard is pretty boring and rather than deal with the hassle of putting on a pair of shoes I figured I'd just barefoot it.  Since it's supposed to be in the 90's today, I was even consciously looking forward to feeling the warm grass on my toes.

With one last tug on a tiny sandal buckle, I turned around and stepped out of the house backwards so I could help guide our little visitor out the door.  And instead of landing on toasty planks of patio wood how I expected, something went
squish.

A mouse.  A warm, dead, fuzzy, ant-covered, already decomposing-in-the-heat, mouse.  A mouse that popped and started oozing something green.  

After a little hollaring at the kids to stay away (as soon as I squealed they all came running and at least one sandal-clad foot accidentally further-flattened our unfortunate rodent corpse) and a quick run to the garage for a shovel, the sad little critter (well...what was left...it kind of fell apart a little in transit...) was laid to rest in one of our bushes.  


I think our day can only go up from here.  :) 


7 comments:

  1. Oh gross! Is that a surprise from a kitty?

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  2. Yep. From our dear, dear, somewhat-neglected, slightly-rebellious, member-of-the-family-at-this-point, Marshmallow. We love her mousing in the winter when she patrols our basement. I'm feeling slightly less enthusiastic about her summer escapades after today though...

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  3. oh man, this is possibly the worst thing I have ever heard of someone stepping in. but i did have a good laugh, so thank you! oh and p.s. we got our box with our stuff back, thank you so much! now i'll have to get on to posting pictures from our trip up there! (and the cookies and jam were the best surprise, thank you!) and Maddy loved the pictures too. :)

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  4. Why do you keep having all these strange experiences?

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  5. How awful! Some surprises are not so fun.

    I love popping in on your blog from time to time. Thanks for your comment on mine. You always impress me and remind me of things we miss about NY including your family!

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  6. Ahhh! This is so gross! I love it though...that happened to you and not me! Hopefully that was a one time deal!

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  7. EEk! What a story! That's one I'll never forget. I wonder if telling it to my son will inspire him to wear shoes more.

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