Friday, June 10, 2011

Guess what I found last night?

As you would have read in this post,
The kids' pet Angelina Ballerina the mouse went missing.

For those of you who haven't been updated via Twitter or Facebook,
Angelina Ballerina regularly escaped from her cage,
but was easily found again.
It became a daily game,
of "cat and mouse", if you will.



I was the cat, she was the mouse,
but she was always easily found.

I blocked off, what I thought was, all possible exits to prevent her escaping.
It stopped her getting out for a few days.

Until last week.
When she went missing,
and was not in her "usual haunts".

I could not sleep knowing she was missing, and probably hungry & thirsty,
so I pulled all nighters waiting for her to show herself.
After two days of this, catching Nana naps where possible,
I gave up staying awake all night & limited my searches to the day time.

I often thought of her, wondering if she was okay,
missing our nightly cuddles where she'd run from one hand to the other,
over and over,
it was her exercise.


I would leave scraps of food down,
if not to lure her out, at least to make sure she was fed.

After over a week with the food not being touched,
and searching every crevice every day,
for at least a drop of mouse poo,
I gave up.
Lost hope.
Hated myself for not being there to shoo her back into her cage.
She is the kids' pet, but I was more devastated by her running away than they were.

--------------------------------

Last night, I left the kids outside the baby gate, attached to the kitchen with a piece of fruit each,
while I prepared dinner.
I opened the fridge to take something out,
and heard a strange tapping noise.

Rather than panic that something was seriously wrong with my fridge,
my mind instantly wandered to Angelina Ballerina.
I pulled the fridge out to the centre of my kitchen,
no Angelina.
I got down on all fours and looked in the back of the fridge,
but could not see a thing.
By this stage, the tapping stopped,
which gave me further hope that it was,
in fact,
Angelina Ballerina.

I rang my Mum,
excited,
as the Kidlets watched me ripping our kitchen apart,
telling her I believed I found her.
Mum told me to leave food down for her,
and she'd come out in her own time.
"Fuck her own time! I want her NOW!"

As I was chatting to Mum, I spotted a little head that had popped out from under the fridge.
I squealed.
I had found her.
Alive & well.
Squealing, sent her back into her hiding place under the fridge.

After cooking dinner,
feeding the kids,
having my Dad lift the fridge so I could find her,
chasing her all over the kitchen,
bathing her because she was filthy,
and then holding her for ten minutes,
 so my Dad could go home,
grab her old tank,
and bring it back to The Happy House,
I am happy to report that she's doing well,


She hasn't tried to escape,
not that she can,
and she has enjoyed lots of fresh water,
yummy food,
and playing hide & seek in her lovely bed of sawdust.

I got the best night's sleep last night,
and the Kidlets are quite pleased to have her back, too.







5 comments:

  1. So glad your precious Angelina is home again!

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  2. Awwwwww, I am very glad you found her.... ( I hope she wasn't making a tart of herself while she was away! or you will have lots to find!) x

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  3. Glad you can sleep again! I find it's always worse on me when the family pets have issues then on anyone else in the family. Ah, motherhood.

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  4. Glad you found her. We lost our dog for half an hour and I was beside myself let alone for a week!

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  5. Awwww you are so sweet missing her more than the kids did! I', glad you found her :)

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