OT Snohares mouse

Wee sleekit, cow'rin, tim'rous beastie

O what a panic's in thy breastie

Thou need na start awa sae hasty

Wi' bickering battle.

I wad be laith to rin an' chase thee

Wi' murd'ring pattle

I'm truly sorry man's dominion

Has broken natures social union

An' justifies that ill opinion

Which makes the startle

At me, thy poor earth-born companion

An' fellow mortal.

I doubt na, whiles , but thou may thieve

What then ? poor beastie, thou maun live

A daimen-icker in a thrave

S a sma' request

 Ill get a blessing wi the lave

And never miss't

Thy wee bit housie, too, in ruin

Its silly wa's the win's are strewin'

And neathing , now , to big a new ane

O' foggage green

An bleak Decembers winds ensuin'

Baith snell an' keen

Thou saw the fields laid bare and waste

An' weary winter comin' fast

An' cozie here, beneath the blast,

Thou thought to dwell

Till, crash. the cruel coulter past

Out thro' thy cell

That wee bit heap o' leaves an stibble

Has cost thee mony a weary nibble.

Now thou turn'd out, for a' thy trouble

But house or hald

To thole the winter's sleety dribble

An' cranreuch cauld

But , mousie, thou art no thy lane

In proving foresight may be vain

The best laid schemes o' mice an' men

gang aft a-gley

An' lea'e us nought but grief an' pain

For promised joy.

Still thou art blest, compared wi" me.

The present only toucheth thee,

But, oh. I backward cast my e'e

On prospects drear.

An' forward , tho' I canna see,

I guess an' fear.

Enjoy Sno and VV, good luck with this spelling....

I see the heart of a poet Burns in your breast, Sniper !
( I get the feeling that VV will currently be more preoccupied with Frost...)

I always think of that first verse, and usually mutter the last bit starting "Tha need na start away..." whenever I meet a frightened creature. There's enough trying to kill them, I am reluctant to add to it.
The most time consuming housework I have done since I moved into my country cottage is catching the flies and tiny moths that congregate around the windows and lights, and carefully transferring them outside the front door. (Nipping back inside before they or their clustered compatriots came in with me was the hardest bit ! )
I never could figure out why I had so many of these tiny little swept back winged lepidoptera, dozens of them sometimes on the kitchen window and walls, forever drowning themselves in any tiny pool of water or fat.
There were days I felt like an invertebrate bus driver, carefully picking them all up in little plastic cups until I had a group, then taking them outside for day trips, only it seemed to meet them again the next day. (In my hubris I thought it was my interesting tour patter."On your left if you look you can see an example of the famed mus musculus, watching us as it gnaws on a shoe".)
Turned out they were breeding in the damp infested cupboard under the sink. Thank Heavens for frost, I was up to four coachloads a day.
If only I had gotten them trained to use different coloured umbrellas for each group, I would have found out so much sooner....

sniper .... what the heck you been drinking? swamp made white lightning? youve turned into a blathering scotsman! ;0)

I think its cold and fear Randy. Cold because my heater has gone bye bye just as the temp has plunged to freezing and fear because after two tries to fix it ,it has died again leading to a large bill for a new one. The old one is about 25 years old but the timing is a real kick in the pants, or kilt as it were.

Just what ya dont need after Christmas eh my friend.....do they let you pay on payment plan like here or does it hv to be paid for outright...just a wondering..so sorry ..huggles..lyn

Thats not freon leaking out of this old geeeezer but it is a hazard to the ozone layer. Maybe the corrsive effects on the heater fan blower and coils is why they fail before the outside unit. No, not talking about MY blower, the AC's blower.
Lyn, we had some funds set aside for something else but we can wait because I was going to have to build the something else and now I get a reprieve from that task. See, a silver lining. Anyway ,now we will be warm when the freeze comes in tomorrow. I plan on staying inside as much as possible so I can enjoy my new heat source ..

Tis much better my friend foir you and love to be warm,build that something else later..enjoy the warmth,,huggk=le..lyn

Weather here is pretty bad but i have to give credit to cait for her first time driving in the wonderful white crappp,,,she did fairly well i must say only made the heart beat a few times faster than normal but hey at least shes not afriad to drive in it..so many are around here due to icy patches snow piles ect ect.....we hv a blizzard warning in effect right now....

meet ya here 2morrow lol compare notes have doc appointment too..i will tell ms cait to be vewy vewy carefful for sure....here you cannot drive on major highways until you hv drivers lic for a year..so at least i know i wont be on the 401 with cait battling truckers lol...take care my friend,,say hi to your wonderful woman for us k ..luv n huggles...lyn n cait

Geeez Sno,,,glad your ok though. Hope it was a nice soft drift and not much damage to your ride. Sure old VV could give you tips on shoveling but hes not around. Somehow I picture you driving a VW Rabbit .

Great poem ,Sniper. I'm staying outta this weather talk, all my friends made me promise never to pray for a white Christmas again.