Of Mice and Cats

As nature abhors a vacuum, cats abhor a shut door...which is why mine get so excited when I open the door to the basement.  As in, yelling "WooHoo!" and high-fiving each other excited.  Ok, maybe not.  But if cats COULD yell "WooHoo" and high-five each other, they would.

So, this morning, I went down to the basement to move a shelf.  This entailed moving cases of canned food, checking the expiration dates, throwing out the expired ones shrugging when I saw some have expired (oh, well, I'll try them anyway), moving the shelf, and replacing the food.  While I was at it, I broke down some cardboard, and gathered up some grocery bags, double-bagged them and set them aside to take to the food pantry on Friday, and realized that the mouse traps need replaced (we use the glue-type)...no mice, just dust, spiders, and cat hair (because they're nosy little buggers).  And the cats were in their glory.  I was in one room, and they had the run of the basement. I finished what I was doing, brushed some cobwebs off Angelica, and headed up the stairs, leaving the door open so they could take their time exploring.

About ten minutes later I was eating lunch and heard a plaintive mew...an unfamiliar mew...a mew that set me on edge as I saw Angelica coming up the hall from the direction of the basement door...with something in her mouth.  I freaked out steeled myself for her to bring me the lovely "gift" - when I realized that while she, indeed, did have a mouse in her mouth, it was a cloth-covered catnip mouse that her kitty-buddy Bianca had left on her last visit (not intentionally, mind you, Bianca closely guards her toys, except when she hides them and forgets where) (which is not difficult, considering how small the brains of cats are).

Crisis averted - this time.  *sigh*