Clarisse
Clarisse is in the building. My office closet, in fact. Her cousins, Chester and his predescessor, Cedric,have lived, fed, stuck and died in my office closet over the last 2 years. Every Fall, a wayward path of rodentia is spotted and there we go again. We set up a columbariumette once, it looked alot like a trash can with a mouse corpse in it, but that is written in an earlier piece here.... and we always send the misguided creatures off to a better world with full prayer.
Being year 3 of this ritual mice visit, I’ve about decided that it must be the winter home, or equivilent of Stuckey's stop off ( Stuckey's is a restaurant that used to line the highways not unlike Cracker Barrel does now) for the traveling mice family. This is a fall event, mostly. 3 years running. Clarisse, unlike her cousin Chester, does not seem to like MnM’s. She must be watching her weight. She also has not found her way into the plastic containers that house the nuts and hot cocoa/tea. She has, on the other hand left tell-tale, and I do mean TAIL signs that she is back from summer camp and is here to move in.
We’ll see how that goes. I’m thinking probably a short term visit at best. I’ll keep you posted.
Showing posts with label church mouse. Show all posts
Showing posts with label church mouse. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Wednesday, February 15, 2006
Cedric has moved in. His cousin Chester was a squatter mouse in my office closet last spring, and before we “sprung” him, he apparently sent word to Cedric that the “eating was good so come on down” Mouse express isn’t as quick as Fed Ex, so I guess it took a while for word to reach the cousin, and then of course he had to tie up loose ends wherever he was and then had to plan the trip down/or up here to Church Chick Central. Welcome Cedric. Hi and Bye.
Chester was a fine fellow, he was grateful for any crumbs he found, any seeds or random plastic lids, odd paper snacks. I can say he was fine , now that he is gone to a better place not-of-this-earth of course.
Cedric is of a different nature. I found a collection of picked through,unopened sunflower seeds on the floor of my closet and became suspicious a couple of weeks ago. I collected the seeds, added a few more along with some d-con to add a little spice. I tossed the mouse salad and spread it back down. There it sits, untouched nearly two weeks later. Hmm. Looked pretty tasty to me. Then again, what do I know, being human and all.
Yesterday, I was organizing my latest collection of desk nut- mix ingredients and noticed that the MnM almonds were open. Chewed open. Yuck. I panicked. What about the candy covered kisses? Untouched. Peanut MnM’s? not bothered. Walnuts? Nope, Cashews? All intact. Tea bags? Ready to dip. Swiss Miss – no sugar added.
GADZOOKS! The bag had been chewed and contents sampled. AHA!! It came to me!! Cedric is a picky eater!! A choosy chooser. A chocoholic. I tossed the bags, and boxed the rest, sealed them safely in hard plastic containers. I guess it is time to call the exterminator again, but I’m hoping that without his chocolate fix,Cedric may just pack up and go back where he came from.
Gosh. It makes me miss Chester. Sigh..
Chester was a fine fellow, he was grateful for any crumbs he found, any seeds or random plastic lids, odd paper snacks. I can say he was fine , now that he is gone to a better place not-of-this-earth of course.
Cedric is of a different nature. I found a collection of picked through,unopened sunflower seeds on the floor of my closet and became suspicious a couple of weeks ago. I collected the seeds, added a few more along with some d-con to add a little spice. I tossed the mouse salad and spread it back down. There it sits, untouched nearly two weeks later. Hmm. Looked pretty tasty to me. Then again, what do I know, being human and all.
Yesterday, I was organizing my latest collection of desk nut- mix ingredients and noticed that the MnM almonds were open. Chewed open. Yuck. I panicked. What about the candy covered kisses? Untouched. Peanut MnM’s? not bothered. Walnuts? Nope, Cashews? All intact. Tea bags? Ready to dip. Swiss Miss – no sugar added.
GADZOOKS! The bag had been chewed and contents sampled. AHA!! It came to me!! Cedric is a picky eater!! A choosy chooser. A chocoholic. I tossed the bags, and boxed the rest, sealed them safely in hard plastic containers. I guess it is time to call the exterminator again, but I’m hoping that without his chocolate fix,Cedric may just pack up and go back where he came from.
Gosh. It makes me miss Chester. Sigh..
Thursday, June 16, 2005
Here lies Chester
Bart stepped away from the door and went into the hallway. He rolled his bag on wheels into the office.
“ I call this my dead zone.” He rummaged around the bag. I was overcome with a wave of dead zone nausea and left.
Bart did his thing and left without so much as a “see ya, chick” and the day’s frantic momentum swept away the hours. The next day started out crazy, and I never even had a minute to think about what was in the closet, in fact, it wasn’t until a weekend later, that I remembered Bart’s visit, and I opened the door to see if Chester was still with us.
“Oh, Lordy, what died?” my office neighbor called out from her office two doors down. “Rank”
I got down on my knees and looked under the rolling table. There he was. Lying in wait. The little brown/gray body lay on its side, looking sweeter than Jesus himself. Jesus rose from the dead, but poor Chester was glued to his fate. Jesus’ stone rolled away, probably down hill flattening a few of Chester’s ancestors, no doubt. Such is the way of the world. Chester the church mouse looked as if he was resting peacefully. His two tiny front paws were nestled under his chin and I could see the shine of his front prong teeth even in the shadowed closet light. He still had a bit of sunflower seed shell sticking out of the side of his rigormortised mouth. Despite all that, I was overcome with a longing to have been able to know him. All he probably wanted to do in life was eat seeds and chew. Is that so much to ask? Poor Chester. Poor poor chester.
I put my phone on DNR and closed my office door but not all the way. I sat in my chair and turned towards the window. The bird feeder still sat in wait of the birds who had not been able to find it.
“Oh, life is sad today”,I thought to myself. I spoke to the window panes that held up the bird feeder.
“All the good I could do for the birds and small creatures of the world, what a shame, what a loss. First Chester, now this. The bird feeder that didn’t feed. Where is God when you really need to know?”
Then it came to me. My moment of spiritual wisdom. I was awakened to the thought that God was indeed present. More than that even, God was looking out for the little creatures I was trying to nurish.. I stood at the window and looked out.
My window faced a brick wall in a small alley. One end was open to the yard, and on the other end was another window. To the unseeing or un noticing eyes, the bird feeder might look as if it was just hanging in mid air. In reality, if a bird were to zoom in, I could see no other outcome other than SPLAT! Into my window or the brick wall. Oh, My. Gosh. Yes. My window was a draw to those flying by, a dangerous draw, this murderous thought had just occurred to me. That must be why my birdfeeder had not been visited yet. God was keeping the birds away. And letting Chester have his fill.
As this revelation hit home, I decided that Chester deserved a proper burial. I marched into the kitchen and found an appropriate sized bag, then I got another and I gently placed my stuck in the glue little unknown friend into the bag, tied it twice, and then double bagged him. That’s what we do for those we really truly love. We double bag them.
I placed him in the trash can/ columbariumette, and placed a paint stick cross in with him, that had this on it:
Here lies Chester the church mouse
Born :recently died Easter Weekend
He was a good mouse.
Sometimes it’s the little revelations that bring our faith to light.
Church Chick
“ I call this my dead zone.” He rummaged around the bag. I was overcome with a wave of dead zone nausea and left.
Bart did his thing and left without so much as a “see ya, chick” and the day’s frantic momentum swept away the hours. The next day started out crazy, and I never even had a minute to think about what was in the closet, in fact, it wasn’t until a weekend later, that I remembered Bart’s visit, and I opened the door to see if Chester was still with us.
“Oh, Lordy, what died?” my office neighbor called out from her office two doors down. “Rank”
I got down on my knees and looked under the rolling table. There he was. Lying in wait. The little brown/gray body lay on its side, looking sweeter than Jesus himself. Jesus rose from the dead, but poor Chester was glued to his fate. Jesus’ stone rolled away, probably down hill flattening a few of Chester’s ancestors, no doubt. Such is the way of the world. Chester the church mouse looked as if he was resting peacefully. His two tiny front paws were nestled under his chin and I could see the shine of his front prong teeth even in the shadowed closet light. He still had a bit of sunflower seed shell sticking out of the side of his rigormortised mouth. Despite all that, I was overcome with a longing to have been able to know him. All he probably wanted to do in life was eat seeds and chew. Is that so much to ask? Poor Chester. Poor poor chester.
I put my phone on DNR and closed my office door but not all the way. I sat in my chair and turned towards the window. The bird feeder still sat in wait of the birds who had not been able to find it.
“Oh, life is sad today”,I thought to myself. I spoke to the window panes that held up the bird feeder.
“All the good I could do for the birds and small creatures of the world, what a shame, what a loss. First Chester, now this. The bird feeder that didn’t feed. Where is God when you really need to know?”
Then it came to me. My moment of spiritual wisdom. I was awakened to the thought that God was indeed present. More than that even, God was looking out for the little creatures I was trying to nurish.. I stood at the window and looked out.
My window faced a brick wall in a small alley. One end was open to the yard, and on the other end was another window. To the unseeing or un noticing eyes, the bird feeder might look as if it was just hanging in mid air. In reality, if a bird were to zoom in, I could see no other outcome other than SPLAT! Into my window or the brick wall. Oh, My. Gosh. Yes. My window was a draw to those flying by, a dangerous draw, this murderous thought had just occurred to me. That must be why my birdfeeder had not been visited yet. God was keeping the birds away. And letting Chester have his fill.
As this revelation hit home, I decided that Chester deserved a proper burial. I marched into the kitchen and found an appropriate sized bag, then I got another and I gently placed my stuck in the glue little unknown friend into the bag, tied it twice, and then double bagged him. That’s what we do for those we really truly love. We double bag them.
I placed him in the trash can/ columbariumette, and placed a paint stick cross in with him, that had this on it:
Here lies Chester the church mouse
Born :recently died Easter Weekend
He was a good mouse.
Sometimes it’s the little revelations that bring our faith to light.
Church Chick
Church Mouse Chester
I decided that we should probably give Chester, the church mouse, some incentive to leave, so I moved the food supply, and planned to get some sort of back packing equipment for him, you know, something that looks sort of like a trap, but one that would let him keep his head. I figured Chester couldn’t be much bigger than a few inches, as the crack under the door, his entryway, was very small. I went to my superior to seek advice.
My boss, the business administrator is one of the most efficient people I know. He wants everything to run smooth as silk, and he works very hard to make that happen. It’s a gift. And sometimes it makes me smile. His efforts to be productive irritate the equipment at times. The office equipment that resides in the copy room has a rep already, I’ve mentioned the psychotic copy machine and the rough-guy riso before. The human Business Admin and the rowdy machines have a never-ending feud. Other than that, my boss can jump right into a problem and nip it better than Barney Fife. Knowing this is why I was not surprised the very next morning after venting my angst over sharing my office with a rodent, I had a visit from Bart the Big Bad Exterminating Man.
Bart used to be a manly man, but the chemicals in his job became a hazard for his brain, and now , well, Bart is just Bart. He battles depression, being in the business of killing, its no wonder. But he talks tough. And he’s good at what he does.
Bart came in announcing, “ I hear we’ve got rodent problems”. Bart is a team player.
“You wanna show me where we’re keeping him? What we’re feeding him?”
I stepped back and pointed to the closet doors, then slipped off my shoes and climbed into my ergonomically correct desk chair.
“um hmmm. Oh, yes,… Let’s see… yep. Ah… hmmm. Okay.” He wiped his brow and leaned against the door frame.
“Let me think a minute what we’ve got here.” His eyes rolled back in his head as it rested against the frame, and his arm began to involuntarily pump the poison pumper can he kept with him at all times.
“ I’ll tell you what we’ve got her, missy.” Bart slid his tongue across his front teeth and opened his eyes. They turned toward me, but I was having such a hard time balancing in my ergonomically correct desk chair that his eyes could not track me, so he just looked past me when he spoke.
“We’re got a church mouse here, Lady. That’s what this is … yeap. A regular church mouse. Right here in your closet.”
I waited to hear something I didn’t already know. Then I wondered if I should act relieved, maybe Bart thought that I had been thinking that I had something else living in my closet like an alligator or an iquana, but I just nodded and held onto my computer monitor.
“I’ll tell you one thing I bet you don’t know, though.”
I waited. His eyebrows raised to ready position .We looked at each other, well…. I tried to look at him, but everytime I looked up I lost my balance, so I just kept my head down and said, “What?”
“We’re not gonna have one here much longer. That’s what.”
Church Chick
My boss, the business administrator is one of the most efficient people I know. He wants everything to run smooth as silk, and he works very hard to make that happen. It’s a gift. And sometimes it makes me smile. His efforts to be productive irritate the equipment at times. The office equipment that resides in the copy room has a rep already, I’ve mentioned the psychotic copy machine and the rough-guy riso before. The human Business Admin and the rowdy machines have a never-ending feud. Other than that, my boss can jump right into a problem and nip it better than Barney Fife. Knowing this is why I was not surprised the very next morning after venting my angst over sharing my office with a rodent, I had a visit from Bart the Big Bad Exterminating Man.
Bart used to be a manly man, but the chemicals in his job became a hazard for his brain, and now , well, Bart is just Bart. He battles depression, being in the business of killing, its no wonder. But he talks tough. And he’s good at what he does.
Bart came in announcing, “ I hear we’ve got rodent problems”. Bart is a team player.
“You wanna show me where we’re keeping him? What we’re feeding him?”
I stepped back and pointed to the closet doors, then slipped off my shoes and climbed into my ergonomically correct desk chair.
“um hmmm. Oh, yes,… Let’s see… yep. Ah… hmmm. Okay.” He wiped his brow and leaned against the door frame.
“Let me think a minute what we’ve got here.” His eyes rolled back in his head as it rested against the frame, and his arm began to involuntarily pump the poison pumper can he kept with him at all times.
“ I’ll tell you what we’ve got her, missy.” Bart slid his tongue across his front teeth and opened his eyes. They turned toward me, but I was having such a hard time balancing in my ergonomically correct desk chair that his eyes could not track me, so he just looked past me when he spoke.
“We’re got a church mouse here, Lady. That’s what this is … yeap. A regular church mouse. Right here in your closet.”
I waited to hear something I didn’t already know. Then I wondered if I should act relieved, maybe Bart thought that I had been thinking that I had something else living in my closet like an alligator or an iquana, but I just nodded and held onto my computer monitor.
“I’ll tell you one thing I bet you don’t know, though.”
I waited. His eyebrows raised to ready position .We looked at each other, well…. I tried to look at him, but everytime I looked up I lost my balance, so I just kept my head down and said, “What?”
“We’re not gonna have one here much longer. That’s what.”
Church Chick
Church Mouse
There are seasons to the chaos that surround the church community. Christmas, of course, and then the Easter season. People spend forty days trying to avoid their most craved-for items, then blow it all on day 41 and spend the next few days regretting the whole cycle. People use the time to turn over new leaves, to start on a better path, clearer thinking, and the search for Jesus’s footsteps peaks.
In the church, Church Chicks sit right in the middle of it all. The parishioners, drop by, share their tales of woe and want, the Pastors fly through with rapid phrased directions, shorthand conversations fill the season. Did you? How will we? Yes, how tall is the floral cross? Plan and process, preach and pray. Day in/day out. It’s a very busy season. The pastoral and other church staff are busier than Santa’s elves in the Lenten season. So much to do, so many to help, so much to learn. Sigh…
In the crazy scheme of this high speed season, sometimes, unknowingly, the little ones are neglected. I mean, doesn’t God love everything? Every ant, and dust mite? God doesn’t just look after or guide the people around town, no. Our God is an all loving God.
This is where the Church Ladies come in. Although not written in any job description, it is the frazzle- fraught CL’s that look down into the corners of life, and while many pastoral staff are trying to keep their heads up and focused on heavenly times, sometimes it is in the shadowed cracks and crevices where the other creatures in need of love and acceptance dwell.
This CL decided to spread her wings and welcome critters, church critters. I bought a bird feeder and suctioned it onto my office window, then filled it with delectable bird seed. A month later, it still sticks, and the seed is still there, a few seeds have now fallen into my window sill flower pots and are growing. I’ll transplant the sunflowers to the church beds when they get a little taller.
I was so certain that the birds would immediately flock to the food, that I bought a king size bag of only the best! It has been residing in my church lady closet all this time. Last week, while cleaning out my closet, I noticed that the seeds had spilled.
I pulled out the shelves and table and found that somehow, the spill had managed to pour itself into a straight line. I followed the seed line across my closet where it dead ended into a pile of shelled seeds at the base of my file cabinet. Curious. How did that happen?
Then it hit me. I had a real live CHURCH MOUSE!! I squealed with delight, as any church lady might, and the attentive staff, hearing my lilting cries rushed to see what my excitement was all about. Twenty minutes later, when I had grown tired of hanging from my ceiling fixture and had agreed to come down ( only to stand on my desk, mind you, no floor) we discussed the situation.
What a dilemma. On one hand, I loved being graced with a church mouse. On the other hand, I wanted to seek out that little critter and invite him to take a lengthy nap under my telephone book, with a heavy lamp or two on top.
Church Chick
In the church, Church Chicks sit right in the middle of it all. The parishioners, drop by, share their tales of woe and want, the Pastors fly through with rapid phrased directions, shorthand conversations fill the season. Did you? How will we? Yes, how tall is the floral cross? Plan and process, preach and pray. Day in/day out. It’s a very busy season. The pastoral and other church staff are busier than Santa’s elves in the Lenten season. So much to do, so many to help, so much to learn. Sigh…
In the crazy scheme of this high speed season, sometimes, unknowingly, the little ones are neglected. I mean, doesn’t God love everything? Every ant, and dust mite? God doesn’t just look after or guide the people around town, no. Our God is an all loving God.
This is where the Church Ladies come in. Although not written in any job description, it is the frazzle- fraught CL’s that look down into the corners of life, and while many pastoral staff are trying to keep their heads up and focused on heavenly times, sometimes it is in the shadowed cracks and crevices where the other creatures in need of love and acceptance dwell.
This CL decided to spread her wings and welcome critters, church critters. I bought a bird feeder and suctioned it onto my office window, then filled it with delectable bird seed. A month later, it still sticks, and the seed is still there, a few seeds have now fallen into my window sill flower pots and are growing. I’ll transplant the sunflowers to the church beds when they get a little taller.
I was so certain that the birds would immediately flock to the food, that I bought a king size bag of only the best! It has been residing in my church lady closet all this time. Last week, while cleaning out my closet, I noticed that the seeds had spilled.
I pulled out the shelves and table and found that somehow, the spill had managed to pour itself into a straight line. I followed the seed line across my closet where it dead ended into a pile of shelled seeds at the base of my file cabinet. Curious. How did that happen?
Then it hit me. I had a real live CHURCH MOUSE!! I squealed with delight, as any church lady might, and the attentive staff, hearing my lilting cries rushed to see what my excitement was all about. Twenty minutes later, when I had grown tired of hanging from my ceiling fixture and had agreed to come down ( only to stand on my desk, mind you, no floor) we discussed the situation.
What a dilemma. On one hand, I loved being graced with a church mouse. On the other hand, I wanted to seek out that little critter and invite him to take a lengthy nap under my telephone book, with a heavy lamp or two on top.
Church Chick
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