Mouse in the House: Part 1

I’m going to start this blog off with a few disclaimers:

1.       Don’t judge me

2.       Don’t make fun of me

3.       This blog is not for the faint of heart

As you read in our previous blog (http://stewartsinafrica.blogspot.com/2011/05/unwelcomed-visitors.html), Sean and I had some unwelcomed visitors staying with us. One of these visitors was a mouse.

In the evenings, we’d hear him/her/them, running above us in the attic area.  In the mornings, we’d wake up to find our bananas half eaten and poop on our stove and buffet. It was getting a bit tiresome.  I love bananas (especially here as they are SO fresh) but I was realizing that I couldn’t buy them anymore because they were a wonderful attraction for this annoying rodent.

Yesterday (Saturday), Sean and I had planned on going to see the kids at the Veronica Home. We were all excited to finally visit with them. However, our plans ended up changing pretty quickly.

Sean and I were getting breakfast ready and I went to the utensil drawer and was not happy with what I saw: mouse poop in our utensil drawer of the buffet. So I looked in every other drawer and cupboard of the buffet and what did I find...more and more mouse poop.   So I prepared for our Saturday to be a thorough cleaning day!

It's everywhere. :-(

So much cleaning to do.

As we were finishing up our breakfast, James had come in to say good morning to us. I told him about all the mouse poop and so he opened up the buffet cupboard to see for himself.  And then there it was...

A fuzzy mouse in our cupboard.

So I took off (watching the buffet carefully for any slight movement) for the sitting room and quickly perched my feet up on the couch (remember disclaimer 1 – don’t judge me!).

James began clearing out the buffet, trying to get this mouse out of it.

And then it ran across one of the shelves of the buffet and James had grabbed its tail but it managed to break free. But James knew that he had pulled a piece of the tail on the mouse, injuring it a bit.

It then ran out of the buffet, tried to go through the hallway door but we had closed the door to keep it contained. It then bolted behind our TV stand where James and Sean got on either side of it to force the mouse in the direction of James.

Don’t worry about me though; I was safely on the couch, watching the whole thing with anticipation and excitement (and with a camera in my hand). *Insert Disclaimer 1 here again.*

It finally came out from behind the TV stand and there were a few rounds of a “cat and mouse” scenario but then the mouse made a terrible mistake.  It climbed the wall to the windows, thinking (and I assume hoping) that the windows were opened. But they weren’t and so it kept bouncing off the glass, running along the window ledge. It then tried to climb the curtains but James had caught it by the tail. James stunned it and after a few pictures of proudly displaying his capture, he took it outside, killed it and disposed of it.

James is so proud!

It's not cute so don't even say it!

There was a piece of fabric on the floor that I had picked up and was playing with in my hand. I looked at it a bit and then jokingly said to James, “Hey, this looks like a rat’s tail.” James took it from my hand, looked at and then looked at me and giggled, “Mum, it is the rat’s tail, the skin of it. I knew I got part of the tail.”

Gross, isn't it?

So here I was, for the past five minutes, playing with what I thought was a piece of fabric in my hand, but it was actually the skin of the mouse’s tail. Yes, I was disgusted and yes, I washed my hands with warm water and bleach. Ugh!

I had figured that we were done and went into the kitchen to start boiling water (soaking everything in the buffet with water and bleach) when James had said that mice aren’t usually alone so the second one had to be in the house still, perhaps even in the buffet hiding. 

Sean and James started to move the buffet back into its position against the wall when I heard Sean say, “Mere, look out!”

Now, this is where Disclaimer 2 comes in to place. 

I turn around in the kitchen to see a mouse running straight for me.  So what do I do? Oh gosh....

I scream.

Like a girl.

Who’s being chased by the ghost in Scream (I really could audition to be a screamer for a horror movie).

And let’s not forget, I screamed and did the whole running in a spot thing.

*Again, disclaimer 1 and 2 inserted here please.*

The stupid mouse was probably more terrified of my scream then I was of it.  And so it ran behind the stove.

The whole scene probably only lasted five seconds but it felt like minutes.

And so Sean and James came running in and I told them that the mouse was behind the stove and then I booted out of the kitchen and back to safety in the sitting room, with my feet up on the couch.

Sean and James tore the stove apart; no mouse. They tore the fridge apart; no mouse. They went through all the cupboards; no mouse. They went through the pantry; no mouse. It was like the stupid thing vanished into thin air.  And so we had to leave it. We knew that it would eventually return.

And so our Saturday was spent cleaning and bleaching down everything.  

What a great man!

The Amazing Bleach!!

Thankfully our evenings ended with a girl’s night for me with my dear friends (and brownies and ice cream for dessert for us) and a guy’s night for Sean at the club watching the football match between Manchester United and Barcelona (Yay Barca!!).

Did the second mouse return? Let’s save that for Part 2 of Mouse in the House.

Never a dull moment around here.  J

Much love,

Meredith

Unwelcomed Visitors

I love having people over for lunch, dinner, tea/coffee, a chat, whatever.  I usually try to have something available in the house should people stop by: cookies, fresh bread, fruit, soda, etc.  But what I’m really not a fan of is....

Unwelcomed Visitors

You know, the ones who come over when you least expect it and make a mess of your house.  They eat your food without saying “thank you”.  They leave their “crap” all over the place and don’t even have the courtesy of cleaning up after themselves.

Yeah, sure they’re cute (sometimes) but at least they could be a little more courteous.

Here’s what I mean:

Can you see the little black spots? Guess what they are?

Our unwelcomed visitor clearly likes bananas! :-(

Look on top of the pot!

He thinks he is the king of this home. I don't think so! 

So we’re trying to teach these unwelcomed visitors that they REALLY AREN’T welcomed in our house. We’ll keep you posted to the fact if they got the message or not.

Yes, we’re definitely back to life. J

Much love,

Meredith

Back To Life

We’re home!  We got in to Kitale on Wednesday afternoon (early morning for you in the EST).

We have spent the last few days resting (trying to get over the jet lag), unpacking, seeing friends, training our new puppy and loving on our old puppy. Okay, so there hasn’t been that much resting. But we’re back to our life and we are happy.

We left Nairobi at 7:00am on Wednesday to head back to Kitale. Sean and I figured we’ve made it this far; let’s just get up early and go straight home. We had a friend arrange a shuttle for us and we paid for the whole thing – we had quite a bit of luggage and we just really wanted to get on the road.  When we were close to home (the last 20 minutes seemed to take FOREVER), we called James and said we would be there shortly.

There was our gate and then there was James, to open it and welcome us home.  Here is James’ face when he saw me:

Jack (our 14-month old German Shepherd) was excited to see us.  He couldn’t stop running circles around Sean and me, tail wagging like crazy.

We walked in the door and I teared up. We were home. I went to every room of the house (well, skipped to every room) and smiled. I turned to Sean with a big grin on my face and said, “My heart is happy!”  Home is definitely where the heart is.

We took James to town and met up with Mark, Derick and Eric and took them for lunch at our favourite restaurant, The Coffee Shop. It was great to see some of our friends in there and get the “Welcome Home” hugs.

After lunch, Sean, James and I headed to town for grocery shopping. We had turned our fridge off while we were in Canada to save on electricity so we had gotten rid of pretty much everything in the house except for a few non-perishables.

That night in our bed was wonderful; I have REALLY missed our bed. It’s seriously the most comfortable bed I have ever slept on. 

On Thursday, we picked up our new puppy, Chloe.  She’s a twelve-week old Rottweiler and is the cutest thing.

For those of you who don’t know the story, we did have a ten-month Rottweiler named Chloe, before we left for Canada but while we were in Canada, she was poisoned and died. So dear friends of ours here in Kitale, bought us a new puppy (from the same parents as the old Chloe) and were taking care of her until we got back home. We tried to think of another name for this new puppy but because we didn’t have old Chloe for very long – and I have ALWAYS wanted a Rottweiler – we decided to name the new pup Chloe as well.  So Sean has spent the past few days training Chloe and getting Jack accustomed to her. She’s just too cute!

On Saturday, we had the Huffmans, the Huckabees (a sweet new couple who just moved to Kenya for a year) and Betsy over for dinner. It was great to have a house full of friends together again.  I love cooking for people and setting the table all up and being all hostessy (yes, I know that’s not a word!).

We’re also house-sitting overnight two of Chloe’s siblings while their family is away (yes, that’s three twelve-week old pups – totally fun and cute).  They slept well on our front veranda although we did wake up to quite the mess this morning.

Getting ready to nap in their crate

Sean cleaning up the  lovely mess (what a great man!). 

The yummy dog food (yes, that's a fish eye in there).

We finally have the internet up (our phone line was down when we returned) so we’ll be able to communicate with everyone again.

Anyway, that is our update for you.  Again, I will try to do regular updates for those inquiring minds out there.

On an emotional side note, thank you Canada for:

1.        Letting us see the green grass rather than the white snow (it had been six years of winter in Canada for me).

2.       The smell of spring in the air (I love that smell).

3.       The leaves on the trees.

4.       The flowers beginning to bloom.

5.       The beautiful blue jay birds that I got to see.

6.       The longer days (daylight until after 8:00pm).

7.       Our NAC family rallying around Sean and me and praying for us and loving on us.

8.       The ladies’ cell group that I got to be a part of.

9.       Our Stewart family for always being there for us and putting up with us.

10.   Sean’s dad, who let us drive his Mustang convertible while we were there (sweet ride!).

11.   Sean’s mom for her strength and love.

12.   Being able to spend Mother’s Day with my mom since it’s been six years since I spent it with her.

13.   The great talks that my mom and I had while spending time together.

14.   My step-dad, for taking us out on the lake with his beautiful boat and treating us to Mexican Town restaurant (every time we come back to Canada) and cracking jokes with Sean all the time.

15.   Time spent with our beautiful nieces and nephews.

16.   Hanging out with our siblings.

17.   Lunches/Dinners and wonderful/amazing conversations we had with people.

18.   ALL OF OUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY who always make it hard to leave because they love us as much as we love them.

Kenya is our home but our friends and family in Canada are never left behind. We are so incredibly thankful for your support and love. You mean so much to us. Please don’t ever forget that!

Much love,

Meredith (& Sean)

Leavin' On A Jet Plane

It’s here; the time has arrived for Sean and me to head back to Kenya.  It’s always a bittersweet time. We’re sad to be leaving our friends and family but excited to be heading home to our other friends and family.   

This trip to Canada has been different than other years in so many ways. It’s been an emotional trip: sick family members, working on relationships that needed it, reuniting with old friends, opening up about struggles, grieving over losses and goodbyes, preparing for things to come and so on.  

There were times of extreme physical, mental, emotional and spiritual exhaustion. There were times when a good solid cry (as my friend says, “the ones where it’s snot and all!”) was all that we could physically do. And all the other times, we just prayed.

I do have to point out that I have one incredible husband. He is the calmest person I know.  He’s a man full of emotions (and not afraid to show them) but he’s also a man full of faith that God has it all worked out. I love and admire my husband for that; he’s a wonderful example and I’m honoured to have him as the head of our family.

On Monday, we’re leavin’ on a jet plane (its okay if you start humming the song!). Our trip will take us from Toronto to London, London to Nairobi and then Nairobi to Kitale. Sometimes I wish that I could just close my eyes, tap my heels together, and say “There’s no place like home; there’s no place like home!”....and voila, we’ve arrived.  Do you think it will work? It did for Dorothy.

I haven’t been very disciplined with blogging. I hope to change that. There are many things that are going to be happening and we want to share the journey with you.

Thank you for sticking with us; thank you for praying for us. For those of you in Canada, we’ve enjoyed our time with you. And for those of you in Kenya, we can’t wait to see you all. We’re coming home!!!!