What a strange day it has been... It started off just like a normal, cold and rainy Wednesday... I made it to work only a few minutes late ( usually I'm at least 20 minutes tardy), and my appointment schedule was not too hectic. Then lunchtime rolled around. I headed home to get some cleaning done in the house and check on the dogs. I was chitchatting with my Mom on the phone when I pulled up to the house. I noticed my cat on the front porch with a chipmunk in her mouth. I chose to ignore it. (usually I chase her down, make her turn the victim loose, scold her, and make her go inside) But this time, because I was talking to my Mom, I just went to the side door and opened it... Before I could even step into the playroom, my killer cat darted in between my legs, with the live chipmunk in her mouth, and dropped it right on the floor!! Before I could react, the chipmunk took off running into the house and disappeared. The dumb cat just sat there! Of course I let out a few choice curse words, and as my Mom scolded me for cursing, I ran through the house trying to find the little creature... No sign of it. I sat on the couch in shock, attempted to eat, and listened to my Mom discuss my Baby Brother's wedding plans. The whole time I was wondering how the Hell I was gonna find the damn chipmunk... A few minutes passed and I heard squeeking coming from the other room. I followed the sound into D's bedroom. My other cat (Finn) was sniffing under the dresser, so I got the flashlight and found the little chipmunk cowering under the dresser. I decided to try to catch it with a tupperware box. By now my dumb killer cat (Lyla) had joined the hunt again. I carefully positioned my box and used a broom handle to round the chipmunk up. For a brief second, I had him trapped in the box... But as I was trying to close the lid, one of the cats tried to pounce and the chipmunk got away! He ran behind D's bed.... D does not have an ordinary bed--- It is a boat shaped bed that is very heavy and difficult to move. I looked with the flashlight and saw the little creature wedged between the wall and the bed... far out of my reach. By now my lunch break was over and I had to head back to work. So I attempted to barricade the doorway of the room ( long ago I took off all the doors in the house-- maybe it is time to put them back on... hm), and I left the little invader in the house.
The rest of the day I wondered what was going on with the chipmunk... were the cats killing him in my house? Would I come home to a dead carcass on the floor? Would he run out to scare the kids and the babysitter? How would I ever be able to catch him? Would he just curl up and die somewhere in the house and start to stink? I visualized him running across our beds while we tried to sleep... I was not happy to say the least.
When I got home from work, the kids and I tried to find him for a while. No sign of him. Then I bathed them, fed them, and we all sat down on the couch for a story. We were just enjoying a good part of the book (Matilda by Roald Dahl), when into the living room came Tiger (my 3rd cat) with the chipmunk in him mouth! He dropped it right at my feet... it was a bit dazed, but it scampered behind the couch. The kids jumped up and helped me shoo it out from under there. I attempted to catch it again, but it was too fast. It ran into the playroom. We then made a barricade at the door with foam mats . Each kid held a piece of mat, and we surrounded the shelf he had run under. I opened the side door, and we attempted to chase the chipmunk out. It took a few tries, but we finally did it! The chipmunk ran outside, and D slammed the door behind it!!! Afterward, D wiped his brow and said "Whew! That was hard!" We all high-fived each other and had a pretty big laugh about our little adventure with the chipmunk.... Glad he made it out alive... When I was putting D to bed tonight, he told me he had named our chipmunk visitor Alvin... It is definitely a fitting name for the little guy.. he was a tough little rascal... Hope he lives to see another day... And I definitely hope he doesn't visit again....
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