The View from Here

Yesterday was quite the day. Dan and I were awakened at 2:30am when we heard Shiva chasing something around the bedroom. We both sighed, SHIVA!, and attempted to go back to sleep as the cat continued with her nocturnal game.

When we heard our husky Marley whimper in the darkness and join in the hunt, we knew it was not just a bug. I can vouch for that, as when Dan turned on the light I clearly saw Marley pick something up out of her dog bed. She dropped it at Dan’s order and the something ran under my side of the bed. I haven’t moved so fast since I was a kid and a palmetto bug landed on me in the middle of the night, jumping up on the bed like the lady with the broom in the old Looney Tunes cartoons shrieking.

Chaos ensued; a mouse had come down the chimney and in through our bedroom fireplace, leading Shiva on a merry chase, Marley riding shotgun. She was on a mission from God, completely ignoring our requests to cease and desist (okay, she always does that). The mouse ran back to the fireplace, as did Shiva, with Shiva trying to climb up into the chimney like some evil Santa Claus on a getaway.

Now the problem is that we can no longer access the unusable fireplace anymore, as we Feng shui’d the heck out of our bedroom and moved our massive bed in front of it. This was all well and good until wildlife decided to visit and Shiva wanted to escort them from the premises. Picture, if you will, a very groggy Dan and Denise beating on the back of the headboard and yelling at the half of the dang cat we could see, tail twitching furiously, to get out of the fireplace.

I used my Shiva trick, whistling high pitched and loudly, which always makes her run from whatever mischief she is into at the time eventually. After lots of excitement, we got Shiva and a very confused Marley out of the bedroom and attempted to sleep before Dan’s 5am yoga alarm went off. No luck. Every sound seemed magnified after our middle of the night adventure.

We closed off the bedroom until we could deal with it and had a full day ahead; Dan taught a yoga class and I took Marley on a 3 1/2 mile walk early in morning- made more challenging by sleep deprivation. After that, lots of chores, a bath for Marley, a trip to the Farmer’s Market to buy plants, yard work, housework, and practicing, before we finally settled into a date night on the only Saturday night that I’ve had or will have off in several weeks. It was lovely.

We were grateful to get to listen to a wonderful thunder storm to end our evening, lightning flashing over the city. I think we did pretty well after being up for over twenty hours straight.

Dan found the adorable gray field mouse after his class (slightly damaged after being picked up by both Shiva and Marley) resting peacefully in the dog bed and released it into the woods near our house where it scampered away. I hope the little guy makes it…and that he keeps his visits to Chez Gainey outside of our home.

And Shiva? She’s still searching for the mouse, obsessed Tortie that she is. Here’s hoping for a peaceful night’s sleep tonight. One thing is for certain – life at Chez Gainey is never dull.