WINTER CRITTERS

Over the years I've had a menagerie of pets co-habitating with me. Pictured above is Amelia, who I lost far too soon. Also, one of the laziest dogs to grace the earth. This is a rare pic of her standing upright AND in the snow. 

Come winter, the pets in our home take to:

Blankets 

Or the ever popular Sunbeam

This one was getting a little crowded!

Or anywhere else suitable for snoozing.

"Mom! Put the camera away! We are trying to nap!" 

Like some of us, they just want to hide until winter goes away

Sometimes, for giggles and kicks and cause cats don't care, they will re-arrange my puzzle.

There are critters that belong inside, and critters that don't! I enjoy both, in their respective environments. Mice fall in the outdoor category, and when they decide to check out what's cooking in the Crowder kitchen, the pets decide they have a job to do besides sunbeam snoozing.

When mice drop in they usually quickly scamper up the curtain and take to the curtain rods, a nice safe place. My first sign of trouble is the fact that Sasha, swishing her tail furiously, is pointedly looking up. One time this little fella decided to risk it and make his way down the curtain. I, with the container in hand was trying to coax him into it when he took a flying leap directly onto my face and did a quick scamper over my head, down my back and was soon zooming around looking for a safe zone. You know, mice feet are pretty cold....also very glad my mouth was not open...

As you can see, we eventually caught him and I took him out back into the cold winter world where he could take on the owls. 

Once we had a squirrel stop in for a visit. What ensued was utter chaos, right out of the Christmas Vacation movie with cats, squirrel and dog chasing each other and me squealing and running upstairs, hoping the squirrel parade did not follow. The critter took to a book shelf and in a stroke of divine genius I sealed the critter in with a garbage bag and phoned Sheldon to get home RIGHT NOW. 

It's winter, and the critters are doing what they do, snoozing, sun beaming, or just stopping in to visit and see what the neighbours are cooking.