AMBER LOVE 27-DEC-2021 This work is supported by the generous backers who adore my cat stories at Patreon.com/amberunmasked and they also get first access to what’s happening with my books and podcast.
Where We Left Off:
Gus and Oliver had some Yule photos taken. Amber and Gus found bird evidence up the hill and brought it home for an attempt at crafting something cool.
The Last Action Hero:
There was a period of about five or six weeks between October and November when Gus and Ollie were kicking all sorts of rodent ass. There were so many mice, I lost count. I specifically remember one day when a friend was visiting and he asked if Gus was catching anything. I said, “He’s gotten seven so far this month,” and that was before he was finished. Gus also had a lot of time stalking and sometimes capturing voles from the ground. I felt sorry for those critters because they were in the dirt minding their own rodent business, but the Grumpy Old Man sees them as vermin and wants them gone.
There are many photos and videos. I spent three days making a ten-minute video compilation Marvel style, I hope, so please watch it on YouTube (at the bottom of the post).
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September 25: The Butler reported that a wee mouse was running around the kitchen earlier. Gus and Ollie were not around at the time. I asked Gus if he would be working hard tonight, but he was more interested in snuggling and napping. Then it got to be late and around 11pm he and Oliver delivered the perp to the Winchester-Nabu Detective Agency office for interrogation. After “getting some info,” I managed to get the critter into the transport unit for witness relocation.
October 13: Gus worked his little stinky butt off this morning. He napped once I started meditation. We got outside sometime around 9:30am and came in 2 hours later. He located where he believes critters are for The Grumpy Old Man. I wasn’t about to move a table saw and various other things for Gus to a more thorough inspection of the antique sewing table. He did take a snack break at one point.
Days later, Gus and I went back to inspect that sewing table and recorded the discovery:
October 20: We discovered a hit and run victim in the driveway. Squished rodent body appeared to be a vole.
November 3: Gus did plenty of excellent work today outside. In this entry, there are photos & videos of his fierce hunting skills. He caught & killed a vole.
November 6: #Caturday part 1: It’s been an exhausting day. Very fruitful. Gus had 3 hours of hard work outside and in the garage. We fed the birds. Then Gus caught a vole from the edge of the woods. It was a husky fellow. I felt bad because over there, they aren’t trashing much. But the Grumpy Old Man says his lawn is being wrecked by all the tunnels.
#Caturday part 2: Gus found a nest of squatters who do not belong indoors. I gloved up and tried to help. They’re #mice and adorable. I had hoped he would kill them. He did not. He played. We left this one still breathing in the grass and we tackled more. When I went back to check, the first mouse was GONE!
November 8: Gus continued his epic overtime of hard work by catching another mouse. It was 3AM and I have to say, after he made me chase him a little around the house, he actually killed this one! I was so relieved.
However, all this great work led Gus to believe he earned a vacation and took off for the mean neighbors’ backyard while I was trimming the trail. He made me chase him between 2 other yards. Allergies and this broken tooth have made my head so miserable (no writing done) and this jerk made me chase him.
November 10: 🍍 Burton Guster Nabu’s 🔥 hot streak continues!! He caught another suspect at 9:30 last night (human preferred it to 3am). The perp was briefly detained and questioned then finally released into the witness relocation program. For once, this seemed like a really happy suspect to get freedom. I think it grew up in the house and maybe never saw the outdoors.
November 13: #Caturday antics began at 12:30 last night. Gus captured an intruder. He made the Butler and I chase him around with it even though he had brought it to us as a bounty. The Butler eventually got the perp 🐀 under a jar. By then, it looked like it had been scared to death 💀 literally. Oliver was nowhere to be found for this mission. Gus got treatos but he he deserves a medal of some sort too. He has saved me from countless home invaders at this point.
November 22: 🍍Burton Guster Nabu’s busy af night capturing TWO home invaders! These are at the end of the YouTube video. The first one had perhaps the biggest black marble eyes I’ve ever seen on a house mouse. He’s got… lifeless eyes, black eyes, like a doll’s eyes. ⚫⚫ That was between 12:30 and 1AM. He was eager to jump out of the transport unit and ran off into the leaves. It was raining.
Then I heard Gus mew again. The TV was still playing through Superstore and was all the way into season 3. I looked and it appeared that he had something hanging from his mouth. Flicked on the lamp. Jeez you wouldn’t believe it. He had another one. A bit smaller and ☠ dead this time. The rain had stopped. The body was given a skydiving release⚰. It was 0430. I was still functioning through the automated movements of Benadryl. I switched the TV to a YouTube channel of sleep music. No walk today. No writing or editing done.
November 23: Last night another home invader was vanquished. Gus brought it up to me around 2:30am. It seems Ollie helped with this one downstairs. Gus didn’t give up the perp easily though. I closed us in the bedroom and he kept going in circles. He even put the mouse in Oliver’s new office. Thankfully, it didn’t move confirming it was DOA. I sent it over the railing of the observation platform in the frigid wintery air.
December 21: It was officially the Winter Solstice and should have been a time of prolonged rest on the longest darkness of the year. Instead, Gus had me awake half the night. First, he was just being a jerk destroying the bedroom. He knocked over a cup of water on a nightstand and knocked everything else off of it too. Then he climbed onto a shelf to dig through the bags of dog presents, stole one, and tried to tear it open to get those snacks. #ohgus. But at 2am, he and Oliver came up with a big mouse. I was groggy and in no mood for a big chase. I closed off the doors as best as these crooked old floors allow. I even asked Gus to kill the culprit so I wouldn’t have to walk all the way outside to release it. Instead, he let it go. I thought for sure it was in my purse, but I emptied twice to look and there was no mouse. I had a suspicion that it climbed up either my dangling leggings on a bench or up the bedspread. Either way, it meant there would be a mouse in my bed.
Gus moved around with me sniffing everywhere. He checked for scents at the closets, in my shoes, laundry baskets, and purse, but finally he knew he had to check the bed. I carefully sat down on my side while Gus was on the Butler’s pillows. We watched the big fellow poke his head out from between a couple throw pillows. Gus grabbed it and went back on the floor. I was wearing some thick socks as gloves and had the mouse transportation unit ready. Gus cleverly avoided me by hiding behind Oliver. Then he slipped up and dropped the mouse again. It was near the door and I thought would surely escape, but I grabbed for it with my sock-covered hands and was surprised I had actually gotten it. I put the critter in the jar, placed the lid on it, and then looked for pants. I grabbed the flashlight, my coat, and hat and made my way across the border to release the tiny beast into the wild.
Since this case happened after I had already created the short film and drafted the case file, the contents did not end up in the video.
Case Findings:
The cat detectives may have disturbed the humans and disrupted everyone’s sleep for over a month, but it was because the night shift is demanding. They worked together inside, but outside Gus only had humans to back him up. We inspected the antique sewing table from a barn, and saw the massive nest but no critters. We have video of the inspection which is as disappointing as Geraldo’s video of Al Capone’s “secret vault”. Actually our video has a cat so that makes it better than Geraldo’s video.
Gus definitely gets an award for his mousing. What should this award be named?
Case Status: Closed (but there are always more rodents)