Around and round the mulberry bush....

So Saturday morning, I was planning on a good long sleep-in.  These early cross-country wake-ups are brutal for a girl like me.  The kind in desperate need of a solid 10 every night.  Even my morning girl, Kayte, drags a bit by Saturday...  But bright and early, Will comes rushing into the room with a panic.  Naturally my first thought is that someone is puking.  It is September, after all. But no such luck.

"There's some kind of huge animal running around in Ben's room!!" he says.  "It looks like a mouse but it's this long, with a long tail!!"

It can't be a rat, can it?  Impossible.  For some reason, possibly the early hour, I couldn't convince myself that Will might know what he is talking about, so I snuggle in and try to go back to sleep, while Joe heads off to investigate.  When he doesn't return right away, I drag myself out to see what's up.

Sure enough!  A weasel was running around upstairs!  I've never even heard of a weasel around these parts, much less seen one!  I evacuated the little people to my bedroom, and Will and Joe set about to capture the young fella.  Joe, of course, goes right for the fishing nets as his weapon of choice.  It took a good fifteen minutes, but he finally got that little creature netted, and as he scooped it up, the weasel slid right out through the tiny little half-inch hole!!

Plan B.  Get the creature to head out the door to the sleeping porch and try to capture it there!  Joe and Will stuffed towels under all the doors and blocked the stairs so they could scare him outside, and pretty soon he scampered out and disappeared down the side of the house.

We still weren't sure what the little guy was, having never seen a weasel.  But a quick trip to google confirmed it.  Further research proved a weasel to be a predator of field mice.  So I named him Wesley and welcomed him to the family.

I've only seen him once since.  Outside, of course. He's fast, and not nearly as cute as Joe convinced me that he would be.  But if he's out there killing mice and not leaving them on my doorstep, I will let him stay.  Heaven knows our hawk could use some help.

Welcome to the country.