So here is my first blogpost. And a big shout out to my niece Emily who helped me set up this blog. She reviewed everything to make sure it wasn’t too ridiculous. Thanks Em! So here goes for my inaugural post. I wanted to write something so that you get to know me.
A bit about me. I live in the mountains in the outskirts of Los Angeles, in Southern California. It is a rural area and we do not have public water, gas, or sewer. We have a well that we use for irrigation and a guy with a truck brings us water every couple of weeks. When we first moved to our home in 1994 if was after the Reseda earthquake and it felt like living on the moon. It was empty here, the roads were not paved, and we had virtually no neighbors. My kids were young then and played in the dirt, making pathways and forts all over the property. My children are grown now, their forts are overgrown with weeds, but we still have a menagerie of pets.
I don’t know when I began overpopulating my house with animals. It happened slowly. It happened without even noticing. It just happened. Over the years, there have been geckos, chameleons, snakes, turtles, parrots, dogs, mice and rats, and even a pig. With the exception of the reptiles and one parrot, they have all been rescues or “gifts.” And of course, some were uninvited guests.
Yesterday was not unusual in my house. After I awoke, I went downstairs to make a cup of tea before heading out on a hike with my dog. I heard a small racket, something knocking around near the stove. When I looked down, I saw a fairly large mouse in the Havahart which is a no-kill trap. The Havahart entraps the pest in a cage. We have been using them for years and it is standard operating procedure for me to put the mouse in the back of my car and release it at our “drop-off spot.” There are a few problems with the drop off spot, namely, it is the same spot where we release rattlesnakes. Once they are freed, it is out of my hands.
I was off to an appointment with the Havahart safely in the back seat of my car. Listening to an audiobook, I left my house to head into town. I was reading The Girl in Green by Derek B. Miller and loving it. The characters drew me in, flaws and all, and I could not stop listening. Sometimes I sit in my driveway with the car running because the story has me entranced.
I had several errands to do yesterday and did not return home until late in the afternoon. Tired and unshowered, I entered my house and began to rummage around for a snack, settling on dried apples and raw almonds. That’s when I realized that I did not have my cell phone and returned to the car to look for it. I did not find my phone but I heard something. I never released the mouse.
That mouse drove all over Los Angeles with me, to the pet supply store, to my office, to the vet to drop off a fecal sample for the kitten we just adopted. I climbed into the car I had been in all day and drove directly to the drop-off spot to release the mouse. I think it was as happy to be out of my car as I was.
Here’s a link to GoodReads Review: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/28114442-the-girl-in-green
