Monday, March 2, 2015

Armageddon for Shrews

     We have two dogs.  Pound puppies both, we do not know their breed mixes.  One has terrier, and the other most definitely lab, but maybe some husky, or some Staffordshire terrier.  Either way, they are hunters.  Usually, Libby, the smaller one, sniffs something out, and Annie, the larger, does the digging.   I do not know who did what today, but apparently all hell broke loose in the shrew population residing in our backyard.
     All morning the dogs have been whining,  and in and out of the house.   At one point, I saw they had given me a present - a dead shrew was deposited at the top of the stairs for my viewing pleasure.  Oh joy!  I disposed of the stiff little carcass and continued my morning  work.  Upon looking out the window I see two more dead bodies on the patio.  Someone found a nest.
      When emerging from the laundry room I looked down the hall and saw the entire bottom shelf of a four foot wide bookcase, as well as some of the next shelf up had been emptied - books strewn everywhere across the floor!  Was one of my children searching for something?  I doubt it - Daphne DuMaurier, the history of Chinese culture, and William Golding are hardly their reading preferences, and they all know better than to do this to books.  Upon closer inspection, I see scratch marks along the whole of the shelf and the puzzle pieces clip together.
      I am surmising that my "gift" came into the house, not dead, ran into the basement where it was given good chase, and eventually excavated from its hopeful haven in the books.  But a basement bookshelf is not Notre Dame, and perhaps it did not squeak "Sanctuary" loud enough, for the books were cast asunder, the victim dispatched, and the offering laid at the kitchen entrance.