Buster brought a friend to bed

Dorah likes snakes. Daisy, grasshoppers. Then there is Buster. He brings his prey in the Muskoka Room, but not into the house, where he eats it. (Praise be!)

He usually comes in at 4:00 a.m. for a bite to eat, if he hasn't caught anything. I open the door for him, and he goes back out to nap for the day.

Buster after a long night

One night, I happened to wake up and saw him bring a deer mouse into the room. He dropped it, happy to watch it run, and it ran into the corner, behind the storage dresser. I thought, "NNNnnnnnooooo." (Maybe, I said it aloud!)

Anyway, I looked and found it, but it ran back into the dresser. I searched all the nook and crannies, and peered underneath. No mouse. All day I wondered what to do. I couldn't see it. At night time the dang thing was scritching away, every hour, trying to find a way out. Buster was out hunting. He was no help. The girls were inside sleeping.

I'm sleeping in the cat bed. Go away.

It was driving me nuts. Between Dorah scratching the screen door to get out (she can slide the door open and she tore a hole in it the other day), and me using the water spray bottle to stop her... it was a long, sleepless night. Finally, in the morning, I went out to have a chat with Buster. This couldn't continue. I thought about setting a mouse trap, but felt sorry for the silly thing.

As I walked into the room, he jumped down off of the chair, where he was sleeping in the cat bed.
He'd been hatching his mouse, I think. There it was, he'd brought it to bed to keep it warm! I let it go on the back deck, where it scurried away down the Hop bine.