mouse field

I usually don't catch mice in the garage during the summer, as that's normally a cold-weather activity. Recently I noticed some suspicious activity though, and I caught a mouse. Unfortunately I'm not in the habit of checking the trap every day during the summer, so when I opened it after skipping a day a weak, dirty, wet mouse was visible - it must have spent a full day in there! I was so glad it wasn't dead that I put it in a bucket, sprayed it with water to clean it up a bit, then gave it some fruit, seeds, and some tissues, paper towels, and a little saucer of water. By the end of the day it was looking a lot more energetic, so I was planning on releasing it the next morning. Of course I forgot that healthy mice can easily jump out of buckets, and in the morning it was gone!

No worries though, because I think I caught it again that night. You know what that means, right? A trip to the mouse field!

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The mouse field is actually a small hill near my house that gets mowed at most once a year. It's got a "commercial property available" sign on it, but I can't imagine anybody building anything there -- it's just a weird parcel of land.

So until it sells (which I hope never happens) it is my designated mouse release area. Hence "mouse field". Plenty of grasses, seeds, and other mice to play with.


An abundance of seeds early this year, as drought conditions and extreme heat have seemingly advanced the calendar at least two months.

Not everything is looking autumnal though -- there is still some active growth happening:

Most of the greenery was located next to the road:

There was some in the lower areas too, where the once-a-month rain (this summer) must collect:

I want this plant growing in my garden:

The seeds were not ripe enough to collect though:

I must remember to go back periodically and check on those seeds!

So the mouse field has a new summer inhabitant.

Stuff yourself on wild seeds little guy, and I hope you can find water!

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