Actually, we're still debating whether it's a shrew or a mole. Ever since our adventure with the water heater earlier in the summer (remember the brown mud flowing from the pipes?) we've had water leaking out of the water heater on a regular basis. As a result, afore-mentioned green container is still under the water heater, and periodically, I empty it into the sink. Yesterday at breakfast, someone happened to look into said container and saw a small creature taking a dip.
You can imagination the reaction. Songbird is in high drama, demanding that we buy a cat to rid our home of the rat infestation. The Net is grinning from ear to ear at the prospect of keeping the creature in a jar and has one of my good canning jars converted in a flash. I am feeling sick to my stomach and wondering where the mother is, while all of us our wondering exactly what it is. I should add here, that our dear friends, M. and W., arrived from Spain Wednesday night, so this conversation is happening primarily in Spanish! "Topo" is Spanish for "mole" -- in case you were wondering. W. kindly relocates our little swimmer and the boys are disappointed when it disappears under the grass outside before they can study it. Songbird is still trying to get a cat out of the deal.
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| This little guy was about 2 - 3 inches long from head to tail. |
Unfortunately, this is not the first time our 100-year-old Italian home has been invaded by creatures. We basically live in the middle of a large field. There is a more manicured yard all around us and then organic grain fields on 3 sides of that. Plenty of critter space. We had a "pet" pheasant for much of the summer that would strut around our house, loudly extolling his own virtues, but we haven't seen him since the hunter started frequenting our property nearly every Sunday morning.
We find it strange, but apparently in Italy there is no such thing as private property in the way we think of it in the U.S. Anyone who wants to hunt and wander, can do so at will. Thankfully, our traffic comes on the little lane that is near our house and out in the field, not in the yard, but I still find it disconcerting to hear gunshots so close to the house and insist anyone going out in the morning is clad in bright clothes and making a lot of noise.
But I digress...as a result of our location, we have gobs of spiders. Anyone who knows me well, knows they're my least favorite of God's creations. Fortunately, most aren't the black, hairy wolf spiders that plagued me growing up, rather the spindly daddy long legs that build their webs in the high corners of every room. They are the bane of Pianogurl's existence since she gets to vacuum them down weekly. We've also seen an assortment of other crawlies -- ants, what look like silver fish on steroids or maybe some sort of giant centipede things (these are startling since they dash out from behind baseboards to scare us), numerous beetles, moths, hornets, mud daubers, and bees. Lizards are everywhere outside the house, and if the door is left open too long, we find them inside, as well.
For example, I dropped The Linguist off in the wee hours of the morning for his trip to Norway, I sat on the couch prepping for Pianogurl's high school history course and heard some strange rustling sounds. I had seen enough by this point to know that I should tuck my feet up on the couch and be on alert. A few minutes later, out of my peripheral vision, I caught someone about two inches in diameter. I always assume the worst in these cases (which is big, hairy tarantula) and whipped around to see where it was going, to find that it was a frog! I'm not scared of those, so he kept me company while I did my reading and then I headed back to bed around 6 a.m....just missing Pianogurl who came down to do her workout.
She was lying on a yoga mat when she saw what looked like a giant moving dustball! She said it was one of those moments where you think your eyes must be playing tricks on you and your brain can't come up with any logical explanation for what you're seeing. Upon closer inspection she found my friend, the frog. After hopping around under the furniture for 2 hours, he was covered in these interesting Italian dust clumps that accrue under everything and in all the corners every day or two. So he literally looked like a heap of jumping dust! The Net relocated the frog, but we've had 3-4 other visitors. I'm not sure what's so appealing about our house, but they squeeze themselves under the big wooden fortress doors and most often end up trapped between that and the interior glass door (several have become baked frog)...except when they use the front door, in which case, they squeeze under and have instant access.
So like I said...a little too much nature in the house for my liking! The boys are thrilled...
