Mice And Tin Cans

 No one was rushing to go home because it was raining cats and dogs outside. Everyone was safe and sound inside Marleewood's old walls. Grandma Lu was having the time of her life visiting with all her friends, both young and old. Oh how she had missed everyone. Things started to quiet down after the first rush of people and food was served and mostly eaten. Soon Marlee walked over to Grandma Lu and said, "Do you think you could tell one of your "old" stories today? We are all here and Whitlee and I still have our prairie dresses on. Do you have another one to tell us?" Soon people started sitting on the floor and filling up the chairs in the Sitting Room. They knew that most likely Grandma Lu had another story to tell.

"Well I suppose I could think of a story. How old are you wanting? Really old or maybe when I was a little girl? I lived on the farm that my Great Grandfather Hayes bought many many years ago until I was eleven years old. I have a funny story when I was about six or seven. Would you like to hear a funny one?"  "Yes, we want a funny story, Grandma Lu!"

So Grandma Lu's eyes twinkled and she grinned from ear to ear. "You know when I was just your age, Marlee, my little brother, Keith, was born. I didn't like him much. So this happened to him when he was about three years old it made me just grin all over. Does anybody know what a mouse is or what it looks like? They all laughed and said, "Grandma Lu you have one on your computer desk, you're silly!" Well, she laughed and said, "No I mean a real mouse. A tiny little mouse that gets in your house sometimes when it gets cold outside and gets in your cupboards."

Marlee said, "Grandma B had a mouse out on her porch. I named it Tiny and fed it treats." Everybody went 'eww! no'! then giggled. 

"Ok, so we lived in an old house that had a coal stove that kept us warm in the winter. The coal was stored in a small wooden building that people in those days called a coal shed. That's where the coal was stored. My daddy would bring it in the house as we needed in a bucket. Coal is really dirty. I know many of you have seen charcoal for grilling hamburgers. The coal pieces we used were big chunks and the fire would last all night. 

My little brother wanted to go in that shed and look around so I went in there too. Oh what a dirty place it was. I quickly went back outdoors. Suddenly my little brother came flying out the door. He was jumping up and down and running around in circles. He was yelling his head off! It was the funniest thing I ever saw, until I saw my mama running out to see what was wrong. She quickly discovered that my little brother's overalls were full of baby mice! He had stepped in a nest of little pink baby mice! They were running up and down his legs. Oh my did he squeal! My mom stripped him down and got rid of all those little pink mice. For some reason my brother still to this day almost seventy-four years later doesn't think it was nearly as funny as I did!"

Wait. I think I have some pictures of him when he was little and then all grown up. I still laugh when I think of that day. Yes here they are. Boy this old trunk is getting full, isn't it?"

"My brother looks just like my dad used to. Boy oh boy, my dad hated mice just as badly as my brother. That's because when it gets cold outside they want inside where its warm. Our old house was an easy place to get into because it was old." Grandma Lu looked out at all her friends and children and said, "Have you folks ever heard of covering up a mouse hole with a lid of a tin can?" Some of the children said, 'what's a tin can?' others said, 'What's a mouse hole?' But there were older folks that nodded their heads and smiled. The cans that we get our fruits, vegetables, and soup in used to be made out of tin. Tin was really steel with a coating on it to make it cheaper and not quite so hard. Anyway, Mom got her coffee in big tin cans. They always drank Folgers Butternut coffee. Mother made sure to save those cans for Dad. He would put all kinds of nuts and bolts and a bunch of different things in them. He would also save those cans for mice! He would cut circles out of the tin with a tool called a tin snips. Then he would bend the circle in half and nail the metal over the mouse hole. Those pesky mice would chew a hole right in the corner of the dining  room and make a home for the winter."

"My children used to watch a cartoon called Tom and Jerry. Jerry would always terrorize Tom the cat. It was so much fun."

There was another pesky little animal that had made his way into Marleewood. Mouse, who was really a cat had watched the whole thing from across the street. He just laid in the sun and thought, "Is that guy ever going to learn to stay out of where he's not wanted? Oh look at that! Reda saw him and told her sister, Freda who chased him out the back door. He's up in a tree and won't come down Meow! Meow! That''s a good one! I'll have to tell my roommates this one after I finish my nap that is."