Cat Daddy and I are feeling very smug indeed at the way in which we have used almost every last scrap of turkey. We have had turkey pie and turkey curry, and I am about to make and freeze a large batch of turkey and garlic soup, ready for when I return to my plague pit of a school in January. The only part of the turkey that we didn’t use was the giblets. Cat Daddy spent some time painstakingly boiling and chopping them for Louis Catorze, who took one sniff and walked away.
Cat Daddy: “Oh, he’ll eat it eventually.”
He absolutely will not. In fact, that’s the last thing he will do. And you ought to know this.
Ever since The Curious Incident of the Jet-Black Mouse in the Night-Time, I have been trying to figure out what on earth it was that Catorze brought in.
Oui, Mesdames et Messieurs: nothing says “The magic of the Yuletide season” quite like being TUC and Googling “black mice”, “black rats”, “black shrews” and every other black rodent and rodent-like creature known to science.
Catorze’s offering was too velvety to have been a regular mouse, too bald-tailed to have been a rat, and it didn’t have the creepy pink hands* of a mole. What WAS it? And why didn’t I think to take a picture? (Well, ok, I know why. I was a few shots of vodka under, that’s why.) After a group of so-called friends – you know who you are – scared me with stories of roof rats, I am now hoping beyond hope that there isn’t a family of these critters living in or under Le Château somewhere, and that Catorze won’t unveil them one by one at some highly inopportune time.
*If you can stand it, Google pictures of moles and look at their disproportionately huge, terrifying hands. And, if you are especially brave, Google “star-nosed mole”. This creature will blow your mind, and is the sort of thing that would keep Lovecraft awake at night.
In either horribly coincidental (I hope so) or related (PLEASE NO) news, some sort of entity, most likely a squirrel but possibly a demon, has been scratching and scrabbling outside our bedroom window in the early hours of the morning. The sound itself isn’t enough to unduly disturb my sleep at night. However, Catorze’s response to the sound most certainly is.
As you are aware, the little sod is manic anyway, and he’s just had his steroid shot which has made him even worse. But this sound triggers his Urge To Kill switch like nothing else and, after bouncing around on the bed at length, he eventually settles in his classic Rodent Duty pose, on top of my chest. I have to make sure that the shutters are very firmly closed at night because, if they’re not, he tries to pry them open to create a platform on which to jump, causing even more of a disturbance.
I had hoped that spending the festive season relaxing quietly at home would be … well … relaxing and quiet. I should have known better.
jesuisleroisoleil 
Whatever you are hearing, you can be sure it won’t last long if it gets in the house.
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I hope you’re right!
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Poor Cat Daddy. How could he have imagined that Louis could enjoy turkey giblets even if the latter were perfectly cooked?
Poor you too. I do hope you have some rest all the same before going back to school.
😺
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Merci! It’s been quite relaxing at moments although I’m taking a long time to get better!
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I wouldn’t worry about the odd noises outside the window. It’s only when they get inside you have a problem.
Catorze will likely be contrary and try to make friends with whatever entity it is.
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Well, the worst of the lot is already inside. And, yes, I’ll probably come home one day to find him cuddled up to a squirrel or ferret or some such thing.
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What about finding him curled up with Cthulhu? That might be a little difficult to explain to the neighbours.
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I just wouldn’t tell anyone. I’d put Cthulhu in the bathtub and just say nothing.
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Quoi ?
Catorze n’aurait donc droit qu’aux abats alors que la grosse dinde avait tant de viande ?
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Il aurait refusé n’importe quelle partie! Mais il a mangé plein de jambon fumé. 😋
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Could the deceased black critter have been a vole? When I lived at Mum and Dad’s, birds would scrabble in the dormer roof early in the morning.
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Yes, quite possibly a vole. In the Zone Libre Sa Maj has the whole universe of rodents available to him.
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Oh my! I googled star nosed mole. You warned us not to, but I did it anyway. Now I can’t unsee it!
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It’s quite something, isn’t it? It doesn’t even look like a real animal!
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It will haunt my dreams AND I want to meet one because SQUEE! How cute is that nose?!
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There are actually star nosed moles around here so the cats occasionally bring one as a gift. And a flaying squirrel once.
A ladderback woodpecker has decided that the edge of the eaves is a good place to seek nourishment…but seems to have desisted a bit once I hung out a suet feeder.
I am just hoping it’s not raccoons !
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Oh my goodness, you’ve seen the star-nosed mole in real life? (Or rather, death?) 😱
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Yes….and it was a FLYING squirrel although they had flayed it a bit
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Good grief, they are very skilled hunters!
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He doesn’t want you to get bored. 🙂
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Well he’s got his wish!
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If you haven’t already solved it, could it have been a vole? They look pretty velvety. I also wonder if it could have been an escaped pet mouse– I’m sure they look fluffier/prettier than the average wild rodent. Or maybe Catorze discovered a new species! 🙂
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It might have been a vole … although I wouldn’t put it past him to discover a new species!
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