Mitchell the Mouse Goes Free

Mitchell the Mouse Goes Free

What has gone before -

The things I get into…. (sigh)

Mr Sir didn’t run to me today when I got home. I saw him immediately but he was very interested in something below him: a mouse. This mouse wasn’t badly mauled yet but it didn’t look all that wonderful either. It could still run like the dickens tho and Mr Sir was having a blast re-catching it until it tired and just stood on the deck panting. That’s when I intervened with a small disposable plastic container and captured the mouse, much to Mr Sir’s chagrin.

The emergency is WHAT NOW?

So I’m taking all manner of replies ASAP, in case one involves keeping the mouse alive. Hurry up, tho or the plastic container (or a heart attack) is gonna make this exercise in the absurd mute.

The things I get into…. (sigh)

What has gone after -

The first advice I received from GlowNTheDark resonated with me so well I decided to go for that: release Mitchell back into the wild, just not the wild of Mr Sir’s accessibility. LOL! So my fresh, hot dinner went immediately into the refrigerator and Mitchell went with me to the van. A little more than two miles away, I arrived at the boat dock and riparian wetlands of the Sacramento River on the West Sacramento side. (It DID cross my mind that I was exporting a rodent not only from one city to another but also from one county to another. I also figured I was nuts to worry about that while my buddy Mitch was thinking life was over even after the cat lost him.) There, we took a walk about 1/4 mile into the wilderness and stopped along the well-worn trail – after I carefully scouted the trees for a Mitchell Muncher with a bird’s eye view of his release. Yeah, I had the trusty Nikon D80 ready and took test shots of the area and container first. With all due respect to Mitchell, I’m a photographer and he’s a mouse. I get to get ready before he gets to jet off. Facts is facts. I ripped open the plastic bag I carried the container in (The weak container lid was for fruit and chocolate salad from a grocery store. I wasn’t about to find out Mitchell was still feisty enough to open it on his own in my van!) and opened the lid with it on its side for a quick release while shooting a long burst from the camera.

Well, Mitchell wasn’t all that alert. In fact, I was pretty sure Mitchell had already joined the dearly departed and wondered if I needed to join a special Red Bubble group to submit a shot of a dead mouse. I was even wondering if they’d accept it when Mitch moved! Woo hoo! Not much, mind you, but a whisker or two felt fresh air and twitched. I had to tip things to get him hopeful that this long day had taken a turn for the better and he responded with the very tentative peek you see here. Bless his little heart, he didn’t run into the weeds right in front of him; he ran to my leg and hunkered down, looking back at me. I was thinking I’d have to kill him after all if he ran up the inside of my pants leg. Sorry Mitch, but that just isn’t gonna work for me, ya know? I barely got the camera under me in time to capture the blurry rear end of one happy mouse as he ran across the path and into the brush on the other side of the path.

No, I didn’t stay there on my knees and cry. I waited until I got home and finished uploading and typing this. As I replied to GlowNTheDark, who’s immediate response to my panicked journal entry decided Mitchell’s fate:

“I don’t know if I’m a softy or a nutcase. Maybe I’m a soft nutcase…”

Mitchell is free tonight so I don’t care either way. :-)

PS I couldn’t go thru all this unless the mouse had a name. ‘Mitchell’ seemed to be right. Don’t ask me why. I try not to think about stuff like that.

PPS The cold tacos (my delayed dinner) tasted better than fillet minion.

PPPS Yes, I’m smiling but I’ll let you know when I stop crying.

PPPPS (months later…) After re-reading this I realized I never mentioned Mr Sir was a cat. Not sure anyone assumed otherwise but wt{heck}?

PPPPPS (still months later…) Yes, that’s me reflected in Mitchell’s eyes. Ironic – me captured as Mitch goes free. OK, not all that ironic but not too stoopid for me. ;-)

Mitchell the Mouse Goes Free belongs to the following groups:

All Animals Great And Small., Everyday Life, Freedom to Shine, ImageWriting (2/24), Live and Let Live, Live, Love, Dream: May you have a Blessed Christmas Season , Miniatures and Mammoths, Northern California Style (4 art per day) and ≈♥≈The Weekend Photographer≈♥≈ Available for sale as

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