Mousey Cam

Well, you can't say that our two indoor cats have a boring life...us either for that matter! Lets start from the beginning though. A number of months ago, the boys and I were visiting Grandma in Albany and Jim found a little white mouse in our cabinet below the sink (where we have our garbage can) He caught the mouse and released it, but we figured that since it was white, it must have been somebody's pet that escaped. Story over, right? NO. Lately, we started noticing that Milo & Missy had been spending alot of time looking into the heating vent under the cabinet. So what does a security guy like Jim do? Install a "mouse cam" of course.

What did you expect? ....Nana, you HAVE to come over and see what your son has done now.

My kitchen has wires and extension cords running all across the floor and counters so all of us *and the cats* can see the mouse better. Not only has Jim installed a tiny little camera under the cabinet so we can record the mouse (and see how many there are), but it is hooked up to our TV and we can watch it all on TV, like a show. The vent cover has been taken off and replaced with a clear plastic see-thru cover securely screwed in and complete with air holes so the cats can smell and hear the mousey but the mouse can't get out. There is a permanent night light running off an extension cord so it can shine light into the space under the cabinet for better lighting . This is what we, and the cats, see from the outside:

Jim has constructed a little "toy" for the mousey. It is a plastic dome hot glued to a piece of wood for the bottom, and has a little hole no wider than the size of his pinky finger that the mousey can crawl into and out of to lick up all the peanut butter that is inside. All this busy work Jim does is done AFTER I've gone to bed, mind you.

Here is what the "Mousey Cam" sees: Remember, this is all under the cabinet. You can see the mouse's head squeezing out of the little hole in the plastic dome and the two cat faces in the background.

These cats have no idea how lucky they are. Look at Milo just sitting there watching the little mousey as it comes right up to him on the other side of the plastic barrier. Its like the mouse is in a zoo. Brave little thing...either that or he is a smart little thing, since he's figured out that the cats have no chance at getting him. What a tease!

I told Jim this morning that I feel like we are all so lucky to have him. Jim, that is, not the mouse. Our lives would be so boring without him and all of his little ideas and projects. He said to me that "Oh, we would just find other things to entertain ourselves with..." True, but they would be regular, normal, boring entertaining things. Nothing like we're used to having!


While this has all been SO MUCH FUN watching the mouse cam, we discovered that there are TWO little mouseys and have ordered little "no-kill" traps to catch them in and let them go. We are not allowed to kill animals in our house (click HERE for the "no-kill" spider story), but Jim did say that if we had a ton of them he would have no problem killing them to get rid of the FILTHY little things. Thank the Lord for that.