Today is cold. We had a short visit from spring the last couple of days, but winter has returned. The day is cloudy and has nothing to commend it, nothing at all inviting.

Lee, who with his wife cleans my house, found a dead mouse yesterday. His forensic training led him to think it was a couple of days dead. The mouse was under a table and hidden by the table legs. I credit Maddie with the kill. She had crouched on the kitchen floor for a long time then went back to the chair, her usual napping spot. I guess her waiting had been fruitful, and she had disposed of the critter. That’s two for Maddie.

A mouse was in the trap when I went to bed last night so Gracie and I did the mouse ride. We go about a mile and a half before I let it go. The mouse always tries to hang on to the trap, but I shake it loose. I dropped last night’s near where two of his buddies had been dropped. Perhaps they’ll meet up and share experiences. No mouse this morning in the trap.

Staying home gives me no additional life experiences to relate. I can’t complain about drivers going so slowly I think they’re in pedal cars or grocery carts in the middle of the aisles. No panoramic scenes take my breath away. I stand at the kitchen window and watch the birds, but they seem to be the same birds every day who just perch at the feeders and seldom take a seed. Yesterday I saw the fattest spawn of Satan I’ve ever seen. It was on the deck, but I doubt it jumped from a tree. I think it took the stairs.

Today I do have a couple of things to keep me busy. I have a red pepper wreath my sister sent from Colorado, and I need to glue some of the peppers back on. Every year I cut up my Christmas cards to make gift tags for next year. I have that to do. Since I’ve been sick, my life more and more resembles living at Shady Pines, a lovely nursing home for the young at heart. I’m going to run for my life if I hear the word bingo!