Say hello to my little friend ...

I found this little guy yesterday morning when I was watering my newly planted lawn. I apparently doused him with the hose because I didn't see him until he was a small, rolled up ball of wet fur cowering in the corner by my retaining wall. When I approached him he didn't run, instead he just sat there trembling. I must have traumatized him ... plus it was a pretty chilly day so the cold water from the hose didn't help. I felt bad so I picked him up, wrapped him in a towel and put him in a box so he could warm back up before I let him go.

Around 1pm some friends came over and I took them outside to show them my new friend. That's when I noticed another small field mouse sitting over by my retaining wall. This one didn't run either when I approached it. It was weird. I let the first mouse go since he was dry by now, placing him next to the other mouse. Again, they just sat there ... sniffing around looking up at us. It was sort of surreal.

I checked back outside later in the day to see if they were still hanging around but didn't see any sign of either of them.

Then around 7pm, I was telling a friend who wasn't around earlier in the day about the mice ... I pointed outside to where I found them and low and behold, there was one of the little guys sitting by the retaining wall again ... rolled up in a little ball, shaking like crazy.

This time I grabbed him and brought him into the house. The temperature last night was going down into the 40's and it appeared that this mouse was not handling it well. I wrapped him up again (assuming this was the same mouse from earlier in the day) and put him in a tall 5 gallon bucket with some bread and cheese. He was acting pretty lethargic, eyes half closed ... kind of just laying motionless in the towel. I let him rest for a few hours.

Finally, around 10pm I picked the little guy up and shoved a piece of cheese in his face to see if he would eat it and almost instantly the little guy started to come back to life. He grabbed the cheese and scarfed it down.


He was back. He started climbing around, sniffing, looking at me ... I put him down and he started scampering around the bucket. It was pretty funny. I was still amazed though at how tame this mouse was ... not trying to run away ... but rather coming to me when I held a piece of cheese up to him. For a second I thought that maybe I found a new pet ...

Anyway, the mouse spent the night in the bucket and he seemed pretty lively this morning when I checked on him. The temperature is going back up into the 70's today so I plan on letting him go when I get home from work ... unless I get home to find him sporting some khakis and red Chucky T's and riding around in a convertible ... then I think I might just have to keep him.

The End.