This has absolutely nothing to do with Lent or Jesus but it actually happened to me on Monday and I thought I'd share it cos its funny.
The house we are renting has some large storage boxes in the garden which hold various bits and pieces including tubs of bird food for the bird feeders, outside toys for the owners kids and firewood for the winter. I havent been into the boxes much in the year since we have lived here, but on Monday I noticed the birdfeeders were empty so I thought Id fill them. When I opened the lid I was met with a scene of devastation. In the bottom there had been an old beanbag which the owners dog had obviously slept on at some point. Over the winter a mouse ( or mice) had decided to chew through the fabric - and a billion trillion polystyrene balls were now filling the box. They had also shredded a couple of pool noodles so the white snow was interspersed with pretty shredded blue and orange foam. The smell of mouse pee was pretty rank.
As I stood gawping at the mess and wondering how I was going to tidy it up without getting polystyrene all over the garden the mouse showed his face. How he had got in there I do not know but he clearly couldnt get out. As I stood watching he dived into the mini ball pit and disappeared under the sea of white froth. Every now and then I could tell where he was moving about under the surface. I decided to try to fish out all the gubbins I could from the bottom of the box whilst I thought about how to get the mouse out and not the polystyrene.
All of a sudden a second nose popped up. Two of them!
I couldnt open the front doors of the cabinet thing cos the balls would have gone everywhere, so I reached in and started grabbing the bits I could reach, all the time talking to the mice in a friendly manner. When all of a sudden a flash of brown made a break for the narrowest of gaps in the hinge of the door, ran right over my foot and bolted under the decking to my left. I hate to confess but I actually did let out a small, tiny, almost inaudible (honestly) scream.😁 I didnt see the second one leave but I was pretty sure it was no longer in there. So I spent the next hour and a half shovelling tiny balls into bin bags and then - get this - hoovering the lawn. 😂😆😂
When I went to put the bird food containers back I noticed that one of them was half filled with polystyrene balls. The lid was on securely. I couldnt work out how the balls had got in there. And then....
I realised that the cheeky little beggars had found a place in the tub where a crack had been previously taped over , chewed their way through and then , presumably ball by ball, dragged every piece of polystyrene inside thereby making themselves a cosy home with an inbuilt food supply!!! You've got to admire the ingenuity and perseverance.
If anyone cares to find a spiritual message in this story I'll happily hear it. There is probably one in there somewhere. All I can think is what are the mice doing tonight now their lovely cosy home is in the bin?
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