Mouse Patch

 Today I am working on a lovely Mastodon Ivory and Ruby pendant. I need to step away from it for a few minutes and ruminate my next step in it’s creation, soooo……

  One arctic, Vermont winter night a mouse moved into my boyfriend’s (now husband) 8′ camper. Yes, I did say “arctic Vermont winter” and “8′ camper” in the same sentence. Bill and I lived in there as well.

   The rodent seemed charming and a good source of  winter entertainment  until one morning I stepped onto the icy camper floor and pulled on my new Johnson woolies. 

  Those thick, checkered wool pants loggers and ski lift attendants wear (which is precisely the work Bill and I were doing at the time), were/are a must in severe northern climes.

  My brand new woolies had a 3″ hole chewed clean through the calf area. I went digging through the table seat bin and found a fluffy nest of new gray and black wool….”get that little turd!” I whined to Bill, “he ate my new woolies”. “I thought he was charming” Bill piped up in a muffled voice, his head crammed under the tiny sink as he swatted at a pile of rusty traps.

   The next morning, by the glow of the propane heater too small to heat a doll house much less a camper, I saw the splayed, frozen body of the  mouse on the floor.  When I squinted my eyes it looked just like a miniature bear rug.  The tiny pelt gave me an idea. Excitedly, I threw off the frosted blanket which had stuck fast to the thin metal camper walls and searched for a suitable skinning knife.

  ….oh, excuse me, I just thought of what to do next on the Mastodon Ivory pendant, gotta run….