Sunday, May 23, 2010

BANG BANG UPDATE

I believe in Karma – otherwise known as what goes around comes around.

The Mrs Blackbird – v- Kitty saga has continued apace since I posted ‘Bang Bang Birdie’ last week. Although I wouldn’t have thought it possible, Mrs Blackbird has upped her game. Kitty now only has to pass a downstairs window and Mrs Blackbird zooms up the garden, screeching bloody murder. She then lands on the patio and continues hurling abuse at a very bemused Kitty.

Kitty’s favourite daytime haunt is Mia’s bedroom, where she either curls up on the bed or sits on the window still surveying the garden. No more. Mrs Blackbird (who clearly has a powerful set of binoculars in her nest) spots her immediately and takes up position on the outside sill, yip yipping for all she’s worth.

Kitty is now terrified of going into the back garden and has taken to exiting and entering the house through windows at the front of the house. Needless to say we all think this is hilarious and have been regaling neighbours, friends and family with stories of Kitty being totally intimidated by a blackbird. “Kitty is a scaredy cat” and “Kitty’s afraid of a blackbird” echoes through the house regularly and guess who laughs loudest – yep, yours truly. What I had missed however, was the gimlet eye Kitty was throwing my way in the last day or two.

Last night, Kitty clearly decided to take matters into her own paws in order to restore her feline credibility. And so she did was Kitty does best and caught a mouse. A little field mouse, which she (brace yourselves ladies) brought into my bedroom, through an open window, at 1.30am this morning. Needless to say she had chosen her moment cleverly as my other half was away. So I woke up, alone in my bed, aware that Kitty was making odd sounds in the bedroom. I sat up and turned on the light. And there she was staring straight at me, saying “scaredy cat? Lets see who is scared now?” At her feet was the little mouse. As the implications of this situation seeped into my sleep fuzzed brain, I prayed “please God in heaven may this mouse (who was not moving) be dead”. With that the mouse took off under my chest of drawers. And Kitty decided to leave him there as she vanished under the bed. By now I was up and out of bed and lifting anything off the floor that I thought a mouse might climb into (shoes, bags etc), I then opened the curtains so that the open window was clearly visible and accessible, on the off chance that Kitty might think enough was enough and remove the mouse from whence it came. Wishful thinking all. Mouse stayed put and so did Kitty.

There was nothing for it but to leave them to it and hope that by morning Kitty would have done her worst and I could then remove dead mouse from the room. I decided to sleep in the spare bed in Mia’s room. But as soon as I lay down, my mind was full of what could transpire during the night. Mouse caught up in my duvet, taking refuge in my pillow, my dressing table being thrashed as Kitty pursued him across it, Tom and Gerry style. No, I decided I had to be grown up about this and go in and get rid of mouse. So I took a deep breath and woke up Mia.

Mia, I should explain is my youngest. She is 9 years old and she (like us all) loves animals. But Mia loves animals in a different way to the rest of us. When she was a toddler I would regularly find her barefoot in the garden with ants crawling over the legs. She loved wood lice and made homes and cities for them. She collected snails. And lately she has been bugging me to get her a pet mouse!

“Mia I need your help” Mia readily agreed to be the one to remove the mouse. I equipped her with my industrial workman gloves and got a torch and we re-entered the room. All was as before and Mia on hands and knees reported that “ahh, he’s cute and yeah he is there, under the chest of drawers”. We discussed tactics which broadly speaking involved me moving the furniture and shouting instructions while Mia calmly and swiftly cornered little mouse, cupped him in her gloved hands and headed for the window from where he was launched into the night.

Mia also intervened when I attempted to grab Kitty and launch her after the mouse! And so it was that at 3am this morning Mia and I were in the kitchen having a celebratory glass of juice and me handing over the €5 bribe reward to my darling, brave, heroic, animal loving daughter. As we retired back to bed, we passed Kitty on the stairs and I swear she was grinning from ear to ear! I don't think I will slag her anymore!

p.s. Mia's version of events is now up on her blog, Mia's Room

11 comments:

  1. LOL you had me going in the completely wrong direction! I thought it was going to end with Kitty getting Ms. Blackbird! Well done for keeping me guessing LOL!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Well done Mia! You should have held out for more than a fiver!!

    Great story Barbara keep em coming -

    ReplyDelete
  3. Good on your daughter, what a brave girl!
    Lovely story Barbara as usual.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Let's hope you have learned a very valuable lesson. Never, ever, make fun of a cat. They will always get their own back. You'd better apologise or she might do it again! Seriously, though, a very funny story.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Ha ha aLmYbNeNr maybe I should try to write thrillers!

    Maureen - better give her that €5. She is still basking in my complete awe!

    Brigid - yep she is brilliant - glad u liked the story.

    Nor - yeah - never make a laugh of a cat. They always have the last laugh!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Haha! Eventful night for most of household then, loved Mia's Room post too. Tell Kitty to lay off the vodka in the gimlet (cocktail, yes I know you meant penetrating stare)!
    What a lovely story, so far all animals are alive kicking, squawking and squealing, looking forward to more installments! Xo A

    ReplyDelete
  7. Your daughter has a blog, too? That's awesome, I'll go follow her!

    ReplyDelete
  8. Good for Mia! Well done!

    Poor, poor Kitty for being so intimidated.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I'm afraid I'm going to have to take Kitty's side. She's been having a wretched time of it, banned from her own back garden and then not even allowed to sit at her own back windows. The indignity of having to crawl out through the front window. Cats have their pride you know. And now she displays her love for her Mistress by bringing you a present and she's humiliated by you as well as Ms Blackbird. Poor Kitty.

    ReplyDelete
  10. I also thought this would end with the sad demise of Mrs B but yay for Mia! What would the world do without trainee Dr Doolittle children?

    ReplyDelete
  11. I just had a chance to get caught up with what's going on at your kitchen table. Love this blog post! I'm beyond impressed with your daughter. Mine will be 9 next month and took quite the opposite position when we woke her in the middle of the night because wildlife was roaming about in the house. Could be because it was a bat flying around instead of a cute mouse. Anyway, keep us up to date on the Kitty vs. Blackbird battle!

    ReplyDelete

I love feedback!