Dead mouse

Today I found a dead mouse. Actually Sarah (my dog) found it. She thought it was a chew toy. Yuu-uck. I don't know who killed it--the cat or the dog. I'm inclined to think it was the cat because he is always stalking things. But at yucky as it was to see Sarah flinging it around and chewing on it--it's a good thing because mice attract snakes and there are PLENTY of those out here in the wild west! And really that's why I got the cat, to kill the mice. So it's a good thing.

I remember the first few weeks we moved out here. Everything startled me--this land had been uninhabitated for 6+ months so nature had set in. The guy that came to inspect the house to make sure it was structurally sound (before we bought it) said that there was a 2 foot long diamond back rattlesnake living under the house! YIKES. And there were definitely mice living under the house--I saw one when we first moved in. And there were huge toads that would come out at night. They used to live under the house too and when I would come outside at night or early morning they'd scare me half to death because they were huge and they frantically tried to hop under the house. We also had a coyote/fox/wild dog problem. One time standing by the window I saw a coyote run across the property! Literally right in front of my window. Another time I came home to see the cutest little desert fox just sitting there staring at me. Well they wern't so cute when they get into the trash and tear it to peices at night. And we'd find their poop everywhere--gross. And they loved to eat the prickly pears off our cactus. We'd find those everywhere too. But now that we have the dog the problem seems to be solved. She barks a lot (but only at night) so she's probably barking because they come around. So good job Sarah--you are pulling your weight! And good job to Abraham too because this is the first mouse I've seen since we moved in and this one is a dead mouse.

I have this philosophy that if you live at my house, you have to pull your weight because food isn't cheap and I'm not going to pay for a free loader ;) I even put my kids to work! So I'm glad to see my animals are doing their part :) Now I've just got to work on those donkeys and horses--well...I take that back---the donkeys eat the weeds--so really it's just the horse...gotta think of a job for that horse...anyone want to buy a horse? ;) Just kidding, Derek! He would kill me if I sold that horse! Maybe we just need to get a horse drawn carriage and we could ride that instead of a car. Let's do that math--say we're going about 5 or so miles per hour--and town is like 15 miles away...so that would only take us like what-- 3 hours? Hmmm....as long as it wasn't a hot day and we wern't in a hurry...But where would we hitch up the horse--maybe on the bike rack? We'd have to get some sort of lock so people wouldn't steal the horse...Not sure how that would work. And what about the carriage--unhitch it and park it in a parking spot? That would probably work. But that still leaves a problem--what would we do with the horse poop? Quick google search answered that one--horse diapers! I included a picture in case you were having a hard time, as I was, imagining how a horse diaper would work or what it would look like. I don't know what's weirder--the diaper or the lady (guy?) holding the tail and smiling... and just in case--if you were interested in purchasing a "bun bag" (aren't they clever) the website is not too hard to remember: http://www.bunbag.com/