Christian and I have done some serious shopping since we got back from out Netherlands trip. This has included 3 trips to Ikea and various purchases some of which are still in boxes awaiting construction – waredrobe, drawers, kitchen work bench, desk, office chair..plus lots of smaller items for the apartment- bathroom towels, glasses, salad bowls etc etc.. too much to mention here and not all bought from Ikea but quite a bit of the furniture was as we don’t have a car so its just less hassle to get all in one place and have it delivered…you know how it is.. Feels like we are sorting through pressies on a wedding list! Must say its great to have the clothes off the floor and into drawers and wardrobe especially as we did have a very naughty little field mouse who managed to gnaw through the back of the couch and it now seems was also feasting on one of christian’s favourite band t-shirts that was in a box on the floor. Poor little mouse. We neglected to catch him before going to Netherlands which was probably my fault as I wanted to do the humane and responsible thing of capturing him alive and releasing him back into someone elses garden .( kidding) Unfortunately we returned home to quite the mouse mess and its incredible that after 10 days of free reign in our apartment there was still just one lonesome little mouse.
Sadly the mouse is no more. After spending a few late night /early morning hours chasing the little Mr Gonzalez around the apartment and a whole day clearing the place of mouse poop and washing contaminated items we agreed that the mouse trap was the way to go. He had been given opportunities to escape through the open back door and windows but choose to stay inside rather then outside in his more customary and natural field mouse environment and with his fellow field- mice I might add. This mouse trap business is morally objectionable to me but i could not find another way that would quickly resolve the problem. At least the trap broke his neck and killed him instantly. Still he did not deserve to be killed. My labelling him “naughty” is my own way of trying to come to terms with a decision that doesnt sit comfortably with me. This little guy was not obeying the rules, but the rules are set by humans and this particular animal probably hasnt got an inkling about our rules…or has he? If he has then he knows it is dangerous to be inside rather than outside and he possibly even senses that staying inside comes with serious perils not to mention the threat of death? If so why would he risk that? Maybe he had his reasons. I dont know but i do know that we did not do the right thing by executing him naughty or not. I am against coporal punishment as a rule and anyway the crime hardly fits the punishment in this case.
The ironic thing is that i found myself photographing a field mouse as he popped in and out from under an iron grate on the foootpath just days before we left for the Netherlands. Like most animals, field-mice are beautiful and inspire wonder and delight. I am a hypocritical monster!
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