I arrived at the lake late on Friday, after attending the Good Friday service at Northview and having a late dinner with my mom.
When I got there, the outside lights were off, and I promised myself that my next purchase for the cabin, besides toilet paper and dish soap, would be a wifi lightbulb for the fixture beside the front door. I could and would control that light from an app on my phone. Never again would I have to walk up to a pitch black cabin.
I brought my camera, laptop, purse, backpack, and two bags of groceries in, then turned on a few lights. After putting my laptop on the table, my purse in the laundry room, and my backpack by the stairs, I opened the fridge and put my apples and oranges in the crisper drawer, then closed the door. With my foot I pulled on the handle of the big bottom cupboard drawer (my spot for keeping things like cans of tuna and packages of pasta), and had only opened it about 6 inches when I saw the mouse turds. Many, many kernels - covering the bottom of the drawer.
Positive that a whole family of mice (including 3 generations of ancestors from both sides) was living at the back of that drawer, I shut it quickly and ran outside.
There were mice in my happy place. A thousand of them.
They were going to bite me.
And get tangled in my hair.
A crap little tiny turds into my mouth while I was sleeping.
I messaged the kids.
Clint told me to burn the cabin down.
I left my boots on and made as much noise as possible, stomping my feet every few minutes. Plus I put on an action movie and had the volume up high. Those mice? Needed to know they weren't alone in Dodge anymore.
Jane and her big black boots were staying.
At 3 am I finally crawled into bed after a good long bubble bath soak. There were mouse turds on my pillow. And under my blanket on my sheets.
I felt so violated.
I stripped the bed, curled up in a sleeping bag and fell asleep with the clock radio playing at 5 am because I did not want to hear mice scurrying or plotting.
I spent all Saturday washing bedding and towels and bathrooms and kitchen cupboards and throwing out food packaging that had been gnawed on and vacuuming floors and window sills and couches and finally at 9 pm, I was ready to go back to my mom's place. I'd set out the mouse traps (glue paper thingy's) turned off the lights, and grabbed my first load of garbage bags to dump into my truck. With two bags in one hand, my backpack on my back, my purse over my shoulder and my laptop in my other hand, I walked across the front deck and was just stepping onto the top stair when I noticed the 6 foot long possum waiting for me at the bottom, claiming the space between the cabin and my vehicle.
I screamed.
Actually it was more like a strangled gasp, uttered with much volume.
He just looked more intently at me, curious, maybe as to what I was doing.
I retreated back one step up onto to the deck, averting my eyes because possums are so ugly they can melt a person's retinas.
I stomped my feet, and glanced quickly to see if he had slithered away.
He hadn't.
He was waiting for me. I'm sure he had sinister plans. To attack my knee caps and climb up my legs so he could scratch my face and take a chomp out of my neck like a blood sucking vampire.
I conceded.
Possum - 1
Jane - 0
I went back into the cabin to hang out with the mice.
I messaged my kids. Auto correct made the communication confusing:
About once a month I wish I were married.
Saturday was one of those days.
It would have been nice to have a man manage the lighting at the lake, handle the mice in the cupboard, help with getting the washed duvets back on the quilts, and brutally killing every possum in the greater Cultus Lake area.
Knowing me, I'm more likely to fall in love with a guy who quotes Tolkien than one who can protect my head from rabid rodents.
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I eventually did walk down those front steps, (after having a chat with the Creator of Possums and Other Nasty Things). fearless as I anticipated of all the amazing possibilities that lay beyond that bottom step.
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Three things I'm thankful for:
1. Charles (Tracy's husband) passed away on Good Friday and is with Jesus. Thankful for unwavering faith and hope in eternal life.
2. Easter. Everything about it. Jesus dying. And his resurrection. Forgiven sin. Unconditional love.
3. Purdy's chocolate.
4. John (and Val's) willingness to check my traps on Sunday and dispose the wee dead rodent bodies.
5. Max's 5 YEARS CLEAN date was this weekend. So thankful and proud.
6. I love the way my boys love each other. Haha. While I will never understand their need for trending, cutting edge, expensive, name brand clothing and accessories, they understand and support each other in it. So to celebrate Max's milestone, they arranged to purchase some designer, limited edition sneakers from an Asian fellow who was advertising them on Craigslist. The transaction was to go down at a skytrain station at 10 pm on Easter Sunday. Clint was the go to person. Max now has his shoes, as a symbol of love, and his feet are very happy.
7. My sister. She turned 50 this weekend! I love Keg dinners.
8. I love having girls in the family... Skip Bo.
9. SO thankful for doctors and hospitals. Last week Drew was out with the flu. He just wasn't recovering as quickly as we thought he should so at midnight (last Thursday?) I took him to emergency. They did blood work, checked his vitals, checked his urine, etc, and told him he was going to live a long and happy life. Still took a couple days after that to feel normal, but eventually he made it back to work.
Then Danica, who is still recovering from her back surgery, got severe headaches. Headaches that were so painful, she was vomiting. So her doctor recommended she get to emergency, where they hooked her up to an iv, then suspecting Meningitis, tapped her spinal column to test the fluid. It came back clear, But three days later she still had debilitating headaches so the nurse who comes to check her surgical dressings daily, suggested she follow up. So back to the hospital - and this time they did a CT Scan of her skull. Again - it came back clear.
My poor girl has been through so much this month.
But she too, is on the mend.
So grateful that we live in Canada.
Shalom, friends,
xo
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