Murder At The Hawk's Nest

Lest you think Joel, Joshua, and Emma had all the adventure to themselves this weekend - I'll tell you what was happening back at The Nest. Saturday afternoon, I was changing the boys' sheets when some movement in the window well caught my eye. I looked over to see two little brown mice that had obviously fallen down there and couldn't get back out. One of them ran to and fro, trying to find a way up the aluminum sides of the well, and the other crouched in the corner. Maybe he was hurt, or perhaps just pessimistic. I think he was a clairvoyant.

I called Hannah and Eli away from their lunch, and we spent some time watching them. Eli suggested we open the window and pet them. He kept signing that they were "cute" and "stuck" that we needed to help them. Yes, he was right on all three counts. But his mother is creeped out by mice. I know, I'm weak.

I assured him that when Daddy came home, we would work together and get the mice out. I may be creeped out by them, but I'm not about to let them starve in the window well. We observed them several times during the day, and I have to admit they were so much cuter than your average field mice. When Joel returned from the mountains, I let him get settled and rest a bit before introducing him to our little friends. Once he was ready for a shower, I told him there was something we needed to take care of first, and skipped into the boys' room to show him.

I stopped dead in my tracks, because there was a new lodger inside Hotel Window Well. There was a snake there, with one of my little friends halfway down his gullet!! I'm not ashamed to say that I burst into tears, and cried a good hard cry. Then I remembered that the murder victim wasn't the only little guy in there with our reptilian Hannibal Lecter, and I jumped up to see where he'd gotten to. There he was, clinging to the top of the window screen for dear life. I burst into tears again, while my husband stood there wondering whether he should comfort me or have me committed.

"Joel, please, please, please, you have to get him out of there now!"

You see, the original plan of my helping him get the mice out was gone now, because the only things that creep me out worse than mice are snakes.

Well, bless him! Despite his incredibly long day, he put on his knight in shining armor suit, grabbed an empty trash can, and rescued our little survivor. The kids and I cheered and hugged each other, it was quite a scene. And that leaves us with only one problem - Hannibal.

Everyone had a different idea of what should be done about Hannibal.

• Eli and I sentenced him to the death penalty - decapitation via garden shovel. You see, we hadn't forgotten our departed friend, and his furry cuteness burned a firey vengeance in our hearts as we observed his cute little twitching feet dangling from Hannibal's mouth.


• Josh and Hannah thought the whole grisly thing was extremely cool, and wondered whether we could just keep Hannibal as a pet.


• Through her tears of grief over his victim, Emma begged mercy for Hannibal. She reasoned that after all, he's just a snake. And I quote, "That's just how snakes are, they have to eat too."

Emma won, mostly because she was right.

As I type this, Hannibal has been rescued from the window well by my very own hero, and is on his way to freedom in a nearby field. The kids have all gone to watch and bid him a fond farewell. Happy trails Hannibal, I hope we never meet again.

Here he is, in our window well. He's sort of hard to see, he's against the aliminum. If you look closely, you can see a big lump in his middle, where my sweet little cute friend is now being slowly digested:

Joel just came home from his rescue and release mission. He said that as Hannibal slithered away, Eli told him that the snake had said: "Thanks, Goodbye!"