Tom & Jerry are alive and well.....

...... and living on Graemsay....... Tom & Jerry (as in the cartoon cat and mouse, not to be confused with "Ben & Jerry's" ice cream - that would be silly). Anyway, there I was one day last week, minding my own business and in pops Button through the cat flap. I noted the slightly muffled "meow" and did take time to glance across the kitchen. Yup, in her mouth was a dead mouse..... she drops mouse on floor and gave me that pleased-with-herself expression that only a cat can give. I stepped over the corpse and cat and reached for the dustpan and brush.

There was a bit of a kerfuffle from behind and I turned to see the "dead" mouse making a break for it, closely followed by Button. There then ensued the usual Tom&Jerry chase led by mouse, closely followed by Button, with me bringing up the rear brandishing the broom. We did three laps of the kitchen before I got the mouse with the broom. Before I hear your wails of outrage - I must clearly state that NO animals (or humans) were harmed in this exercise (well I was a bit out of breath...). The idea was to get the broom in front of the mouse so that it can hide in the soft bristles (yup I've been here before...), whereupon I scoop up cat and deposit her outside the kitchen (this is the tricky bit as there are two doors into the kitchen and she can nip back through before you can say "Jiminy Cricket" - though why you would want to say Jiminy Cricket is another matter.)

Anyway, after scooping cat out of the way, I deftly used a large yellow duster* to scoop up mouse and deposit outside in the field. First remembering to a) close porch door so cat can't get through cat flap, and b) put my shoes on else slippers get soggy. Meanwhile Button is up on her hind legs, front paws against the window pane, look of outrage on face.

I return and give Button a lecture about NOT bringing anything LIVE through the cat flap with her. She's a cat - she'll do as she pleases.......

I needed a strong cup of tea after that episode.........

*Duster - a piece of cloth that is apparently used to collect the dust, I, however, find it just redistributes it so have no use for such an article, except for the rescue of small rodents...

Note on catflaps - in previous posts I've muttered darkly about the cat flap that works with Button's microchip - or rather doesn't work. Anyway I wrote to the supplier complaining about the ineffectiveness of the flap and this morning got a call from the manufacturer's (Sureflap) general manager, apologising for inconvenience and after some discussion and rummaging around the cat flap (by me!), he is sending me a new "improved" version, and will also send me a version that is due out later this year which has an even better mechanism in it. So I shall keep you posted, but at least I'm impressed with their customer service!