Good Lord, I worked hard today, and the day isn't even over yet. I logged quite a few hours helping my dad load bales of hay onto his truck to bring home. These are the smaller square bales that weigh anywhere from 60 - 130 lbs, depending on how tightly packed the hay is. I packed about 130 of them. Keep in mind, that some of these bales weigh more than I do. Somewhere around the 90th bale or so, I found a little surprise in one of them... a nest of baby mice.
At first I was kinda creeped out by these tiny, pink squirming things. But then I heard them squeaking, and I fell in love. I put them in an old carton that was in the truck, and gave them some hay so sleep in. I put them on the floor of the truck for safekeeping. They're now beside me as I sit on my bed typing. I gave them a nicer box, and some soft fleece. I tried to feed them milk from a syringe, but all I accomplished was flooding their noses with milk. That's bad. They can drown that way. So, I'm at a loss. On top of that, I have to keep the mice a secret from my stepmother.... who is afraid of mice and would sooner give them to the cats as snacks than keep them in a box and try to feed them. I just hope they survive the night. Statistics say that in the wild, only about 50% of mice live to be adults. The chances of these guys surviving is not great.
My dad thinks I'm nuts (which I am of course). Just yesterday I was cheering the barn cats on as they took on a giant gopher and won. Now I'm coddling a handful of rodents and hoping they don't die. Some people keep mice as pets, so it's not that weird, is it? Is it?
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