So, whadda ya think?

[Rumple Foreskin]

Greetings,

Earlier this afternoon, I saved a small mouse from drowning and then let it return to its mousey business. The question I'm now placing before this august assembly is a simple one: Was that an act of soft-hearted kindness, or soft-headed dumbness?

Rumple Foreskin

 

[MathGirl]

Dear Rumple,
It was an act of kindness. Towards the owl who will cause the mouse's life to end with a wet squeak tonight, then dine upon it.
Con carne,
MG

 

[Guest]

Rumply, you're a total softy and I like that (though I'm not usually prone to soft men).

A friend once tried to terminate the life of a nuisance skunk (an actual skunk, not her bf). She set up a trap over a wooden barrel full of water (drowning was the goal). In the middle of the night she heard the splash, but then had difficulty getting to sleep as she distinctly heard the scratching of the dumb thing as it tried to escape.

In the morning she went to her yard and the skunk was still treading water. Impressed by its will to live she let it go.

Perdita

 

[Lauren Hynde]

I think the Bubonic Plague had more to do with the FLEAS of RATS, not with mice. I vote for soft-hearted kindness.

 

[damppanties]

I don't think I'd use the word 'cute' to refer to a mouse.

I like them though. When I was about 10, I was at my grandma's place. It's a HUGE house. A lovely place for a kid. My brother and I had sneaked into one of the rooms which was closed off; and there, in a chest of drawers we found a family of mice. There were six babies. Their eyes hadn't opened yet and they were our exciting secret for about a week - after which they were discovered and flushed down the toilet.
That's one week I can't forget.

Thanks for reviving a lovely memory RF. And I could never kill a mouse... or most living things for that matter.

-Animal lover.

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

et al,

It occured to me after setting up the poll, that another option might have been what I did was a function of natural laziness. After all, by saving and releasing the runty rodent, I was spared the onerous chore of hitching up the old carrion wagon and hauling off the carcass.

RF

 

[cookiejar]

Awwwww RF...what a big sweetheart you are...

 

[wildsweetone]

Greetings,

Earlier this afternoon, I saved a small mouse from drowning and then let it return to its mousey business. The question I'm now placing before this august assembly is a simple one: Was that an act of soft-hearted kindness, or soft-headed dumbness?

Rumple Foreskin

I'm in the 'None of the above' category. Rumple, I strongly believe you followed your human instinct to save an animal in distress.

In fact, you've gone and messed up Mother Nature's plan for the little rodent, thus causing a catastrophic disturbance within the vacuum's void that will have repercussions for ever and ever.

Life will never be the same again.




Edited to add: Actually the darn thing was probably trying to commit suicide thus avoiding having to deal with the neighbour's cat who'd been tormenting it for the last month.

 

[gauchecritic]

It has nothing to do with cute mice. You're just a big softy.

Not long after I married, my wife told me of the time when she was younger awaiting a bus at dusk.
There appeared, across the road, with a fair amount of traffic, a horde of frogs (not French people). These frogs were attempting to leave the safety of the grass verge opposite and trek towards the other side of the road and the field beyond. Not one of the frogs could remember the 'highway code' and none of them even had an inkling about stop /walk signs.
My wife was veratibly dancing in anxiety as vehicles wheels came within millimetres of said frogs. What should she do? Dash out into traffic or leave them to their fate? She wasn't allowed on busy roads. But neither were frogs. Her hands were tied.

Years later, whilst awaiting the arrival of a bus at night I couldn't believe my eyes when a horde of frogs hopped out of the undergrowth on the opposite side of the road. Steadfastly refusing to acknowledge the existance of large wheeled vehicles rumbling past. This was me. I'm not particularly fond of touching frogs and I watched in horror as scant millimetres separated the frogs from hopping happiness and roadkill. Fortunately there was not another single person on the roadside, nor quite so many cars and I found myself bringing each and every one of these dry bundles of bone to their destination.

Gauche (soft as a rumple)

 

[Guest]

 

[Icingsugar]

A definite none of the above. You sure it wasn't an act of boredom? I think you did it because it was more entertaining than to just walk on and let natual selection have it's course.

And the third option, watching it drown for your amusement is a little low, right? So that's not an option.

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

A fifth option has just crossed the AP wire. If these suckers stage a comeback, maybe I'll be in good standing. RF

--

Top Stories - AP

Fossil Shows Rodent Was Size of Buffalo

By PAUL RECER, AP Science Writer

WASHINGTON - A rodent the size of a buffalo? Researchers say they have found fossils for a 1,545-pound giant that thrived millions of years ago in a swampy South American forest.

"Imagine a weird guinea pig, but huge, with a long tail for balancing on its hind legs and continuously growing teeth," said Marcelo R. Sanchez-Villagra of the University of Tubingen in Germany, the first author of a study appearing this week in Science.

The formal name of the rodent is Phoberomys pattersoni. Informally, the skeleton is called Goya.

Researchers found the fossils in a semidesert area of Venezuela, about 250 miles west of Caracas.

When Goya lived there, some 6 million to 8 million years ago, the area was a lush paradise for a large plant eater.

"At the time it was forested and swampy with a big river and a lot of vegetation," said Sanchez-Villagra.

The giant rodent grazed on grasses, which he must have eaten in large amounts to support his great size. Goya had fur, a smooth head with small ears and eyes, and a large tail that enabled it to balance on two hind legs to watch for predators, said Sanchez-Villagra.

 

[Icingsugar]

"Imagine a weird guinea pig, but huge, with a long tail for balancing on its hind legs and continuously growing teeth,"

Not really my favourite turn-on, but hey, I'm willing to experiment.

 

[ffreak]

OK, mice with white fur come from labs and pet stores and are either completely healthy or escapees of unmentionable horrors (check to see what color lipstick they're swabbed with before touching - if none, don't touch) .

Mice with brown or black fur have fleas.

-FF (bu-bu-bu-bu-benny and the jets - if you have to ask why, I'm not going to tell you - then I'd have to know why)

ps. I'm a big softie too - melt real easy.
We had a visitor the other night. Discovered the wife is terrified of bats - which is only fair, the bat was terrified of her too. I used the panama canal approach and returned it to where there were more bugs available for dinner. Besides, I hate the site of blood and guts. That's why I write horror.

 

[Jenny _S]

A fifth option has just crossed the AP wire. If these suckers stage a comeback, maybe I'll be in good standing. RF

--

Top Stories - AP

Fossil Shows Rodent Was Size of Buffalo

By PAUL RECER, AP Science Writer

WASHINGTON - A rodent the size of a buffalo? Researchers say they have found fossils for a 1,545-pound giant that thrived millions of years ago in a swampy South American forest.

"Imagine a weird guinea pig, but huge, with a long tail for balancing on its hind legs and continuously growing teeth," said Marcelo R. Sanchez-Villagra of the University of Tubingen in Germany, the first author of a study appearing this week in Science.

What kind of mouse trap would one use for that sucker?

 

[Leslie again]

Hmm I think saving the mouse was nice.

I mean think about it, the world is full of people I would think even less of than the mouse.

Given a choice of the mouse, or lots of complete strangers, the mouse actually has a good chance with me.

 

[oggbashan]

A few years ago I was having trouble with drunken teenagers from a house a few doors away. They had parties every Saturday night until dawn Sunday. They grew out of it eventually.

One Saturday night I was returning from the theatre about midnight. Three of the worst offenders were in the middle of the road dodging the traffic.

I slowed down, wound down my car window, and asked what they were doing. The answer was that they were trying to help a hedgehog to cross the road without being squashed. They were.

The hedgehog made it across alive.

Og

PS. I could ask them because although they were a nuisance to the neighbourhood they were locals who were thoughtless, not bad.

 

[MathGirl]

Originally posted by Jenny _S What kind of mouse trap would one use for that sucker?

Dear Jenny,
I think the famous Monty Python stomping bare foot would be appropriate.
MG

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

Dear Jenny,
I think the famous Monty Python stomping bare foot would be appropriate.
MG

Messy, MG, but it does have the advantage of simplicity.

A conventional mousetrap, built very, very large, would be a chore to set, especially if it still held a recently dispatched 1500 pound rodent. On the other hand, we could always give that job to "virgins" who come dragging in here asking how long it takes for stories to get posted.

Rumple Foreskin

 

[Guest]

On the other hand, we could always give that job to "virgins" who come dragging in here asking how long it takes for stories to get posted.

God help me I think the recent unrepressed violence of the AH has done me in. I say we set the traps 'for' the newbies.

shamefully, Perdita

 

[Leslie again]

Remember Rumple, some virgins are just old hands with a facelift hehe.

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

Remember Rumple, some virgins are just old hands with a facelift hehe.

You've got a point, LA. After all, I suppose everyone here was a virgin at one time or another. Of course, most of us eventually managed to get over the condition. That's why, IMHO, the field should be limited to those virgins who ask how long it will be before their stories appear.

Rumple (milk of human kindness) Foreskin

 

[Icingsugar]

Dear Jenny,
I think the famous Monty Python stomping bare foot would be appropriate.
MG

Or an absolutely humongous behemoth of a cat.


Or just a really vicious one. Greebo, anyone?