Reckless

We just had one of the best visitors leave our house after a week and a half: Little furry Reckless.

Reckless

Isn't he cute? I borrowed him from a generous friend who fosters cats and, at the time of the cat loan, had five kitties at home. She says she missed him, but how did she notice he was gone with all those cats around?

My daughter calls him "Reck-uh-less", rhyming with "neck-uh-lace."

Over the holidays I think we saw a mouse or two, ugh, but it wasn't until after Chicago's first polar plunge of the winter when we were below zero for almost two days that we started to notice more mice. We borrowed our neighbor's cat, a sweet fluffy boy, who lumbered around and didn't seem to be much interested in mice hunting.

In days afterward, the mice became especially visible -- and of course when my husband was out of town for work. Which made me a little nuts.

I was feeding the kids one of those nights and ran downstairs to grab something. Coming back up from the basement, this stupid mouse came tearing down the stairs, lights on, noisy kids in the kitchen, everything!

I couldn't hang in the basement without seeing one, and there was at least one in the kitchen, too.

We're pretty neat and try to keep clutter very minimal, so this was distressing.

I tried some traps but the freaking mice either ignored them or got away.

So I texted Terri, my friend, and said gimme a cat!

She delivered Reckless the kitty. Oh, my, what a sweet little boy.

Sweet little Hillary

Isn't she cute?

We haven't had a kitty in more than three years, since our sweet baby Hillary died of natural causes in our backyard in 2010. (see photos left and right)

My husband found Hillary in a shelter many years ago, before he knew me.

I grew up with dogs and had a somewhat sturdy belief that cats were an inferior pet, but she won me over with her sweet nature and tolerance for my now 21-year-old son, back when he was a wee boy.

I had no idea how much I loved Hillary, though, until she died. I knew my husband adored her but man, these little furballs just sneak into your heart when you're not looking. That was one of the saddest days I can remember, watching her take her last little kitty breath in our backyard on a hot day. It was awful.

My husband has been adamant all these years about not rushing into getting another pet.

Besides, we were busy having children instead.

But once Reckless was in our home, and of course getting into our hearts the way sweet furbabies do, it had us talking again. We both want to get a dog. Our kids went bananas over Reckless. He tolerated, they smothered and half-listened to me one hundred time tell them not to smother. I think a dog would be a better fit.

So, back to the mousing. Reckless seems to be more lover than mouser. The mice didn't seem to come out, but he didn't seem to be catching any, either.

One day I ran to the store with my daughter. When I got home, my husband had quite the story.

Reckless had jumped up on the counter, scampy kitty, and was very interested in our toaster. B grabbed the toaster and didn't see anything other than a disgusting amount of crumbs, so he dumped them. Reckless was still excited, and B looked in the toaster again.

And saw an eyeball.

He dropped the toaster, scaring the cat into running out of the kitchen. The mouse fell out of the toaster. My husband managed somehow to kill him.

I asked Terri if Reckless could stay another week.

Earlier last week, Reckless jammed his little head into an opening in the drywall behind our dryer. He seemed very interested in what was in that hole. We dismissed the thought of mice at first, since that wall and the rest of the laundry room are so drafty and cold. Then we figured out that mice can come through your dryer vent. We now have a new dryer vent cover that prevents mice from coming in. Score another one for Reckless.

A few days ago, a mouse was hanging out under our DVR player, tail sticking out. We stuck Reckless' face right there, next to the tail. He was pretty ambivalent and walked away. We still haven't caught that darn mouse. Mouse 1, Reckless 0.

Terri kindly has offered to let us adopt Reckless. If my preschoolers were a little less, um, wild, I'd do it. It's been so great to have a snuggly, playful pet around again. I didn't realize how much I missed having a pet until he stayed with us.

So we said good-bye to Reckless today. I hope we can get a dog soon.

Who thinks mice are really tasty.

However, we may just have to break down and spend money on an exterminator.