Our Own Mrs. Frisby Mouse Story
Have you read Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (affiliate link)? It’s a book we read aloud a couple of years ago (and we highly recommend it!!). It is the touching story of a field mouse who lives in a farmer’s vegetable garden. She needs help moving her young mouse family because her baby, Timothy, is very sickly. Her home is warm and cozy, but is in danger both because of the farm cat… and because the farmer will be coming to work in the garden and may destroy her home.
Today, I was that farmer! Weeds had taken over the vegetable garden and it was time to tackle the garden. One of the first things I did was turn over the wheel barrow, which I had left up-side-down over top of a half-bale of hay. We use the hay to keep the weeds down, but it had been nearly a month since I’ve touched the garden!
When I flipped over the wheel barrow, somehow I managed to get a mouse caught in the inside (I didn’t even know it was there).
I called the kids to come down and check out the cute little thing.
When the kids came running out of the house… out came our dog and cat too.
Do you hear the ominous music yet?
Boomer, our dog, and Kitty (her name is Crystal, but we always call her Kitty!) started nosing around. I shooed Boomer back and noticed a mouse nest. I thought I’d take a picture of that. It was interesting because it had bits of snake skin and other things.
But then as I looked closer… I realized there was a baby mouse!!
And not just one mouse, but two tiny little mice!!
How does this story end? Well, I took much of the hay and transported the baby mice, mama mouse and their nest way far from our house. Then, as best I could, I established a new home for the mouse family, gently placed them in the hay, and once again placed the wheel barrow upside-down over top of that hay. I’m hopeful Mama Mouse will remain with her babies and will take care of them… though I’ll leave them in peace, so we won’t really ever know. 🙂
It seems our yard is teeming with wildlife at the moment. We also saw a snake (norther brown snake, I think) during the mouse episode.
And a couple days ago, LD found the biggest frog (by far) that we’ve even found in our yard (and we have TONS of frogs and toads around because there is a creek that runs through our back yard). The picture on the right just doesn’t do it justice. Maybe you can tell how big it is in LD’s hands as he’s letting it go. I think it might be an American bullfrog, but that’s just my best guess. 🙂
I guess this is biology at its very best, right!!
Have a great day! See you again soon here or over at our Homeschool Den Facebook Page! ~Liesl and the kids
Disclosure: Please note that the link above is an affiliate link, and at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you decide to make a purchase.
