Pets Galore

One of the neat things about my job at BCCC is that I got two of my pets there. Now, I worked in an animal shelter for a few months, and managed not to get any pets out of that experience. But the community college? Pets everywhere. In addition to the two I actually took, I also had an option on rescuing a pit bull from an abusive marriage.

First BCCC pet was Fred. I used to have two cats. Then one got hit by a car and died. (Yes, I know I'm a bad pet owner and a terrible human being for letting my cat go outside. He kept running out the door, and eventually I got tired of running through the dog-poo-covered yard and vaulting over the neighbor's fence--in my pyjamas--to bring his ungrateful furry ass home.) Around the same time, one of the secretaries had a kitten show up at her house. I resisted for a while, then decided that the remaining cat was depressed, and a kitten would be just the thing to lift their spirits. Not a very interesting story.

More interesting is the story of the Stray Mouse. I hang out with one of the librarians sometimes, so she knows I'm an animal person. Last week she came in to work with a story about how when her father was working in the yard, an albino mouse suddenly ran up to him. They and the neighbors started feeding it sunflower seeds and almonds, and it hung out there for a few days. However, my friend's mother is afraid of mice. While, as she said many times when I was over there collecting the mouse, she knows this is a ridiculous fear, she was convinced that if she got too close to the mouse it would run up her legs. And then do what, I don't know. So the mouse had to go. When my friend first told me about the mouse, she--cleverly--said that they hadn't seen it lately, so it might be gone. I said (naturally), "Well, if it comes back, let me know and I'll come get it. I have a cage already." (Someone was throwing it out. I have a hard time resisiting potentially useful objects that are being thrown out. In May, I forgot to check the dumpters in the dorm area of BCMU for things the leaving students were throwing out, and I still regret it.) Of course, the mouse came back. I was over there collecting it that afternoon. Now it's installed in a the cage on my desk, and making sure that none of the other pets eat it has become one of my major preoccupations. On the other hand, I'm probably one of the few people in the world to have taken in a Stray Mouse. (And yes, I'm sure it's not a wild mouse--first of all, it's white with pink eyes. Second, he already knew how to operate the exercise wheel. Third, wild mice do not typically run up to strange people, and then hop into the first available cage with tiny little sighs of relief.)