Saturday, November 17, 2012

And Then They Were Gone

I had a bit of a fright yesterday.
It actually started the night before when Warren and I 
were discussing the need to check on Mikey's chinchillas.
You see Mikey has moved out and into an apartment 
with some friends from work.
What this means is that he left the chinchillas here while he 
worked to find a home for them.
Well, it turns out that they had a bigger piece of his heart
than he had realized and rather than give them to 
either of the two interested people he attempted to work it 
out so that he could take them with him.
That hadn't happened yet.
He needed a special cage and for that he needed money.

I have to say that he has been very faithful to come back 
and play with the critters, feed and water them and 
generally take very excellent care even from a distance.
However, 
yesterday it had been a few days and I was a bit 
uncertain of what I would find upon entering his room.

You see,
these two are amazing escape artists.
They have gotten out so many times that I kind of 
figured they would be on the loose and
I would have to figure out a way to get them back.

Well, that or dead.
I don't have any idea how long chinchillas
can go without food and water.
It hadn't been that long but I just didn't want 
to be the one that found them if the worst case happened.

I gingerly opened the door.

No scampering within the cage.
They always come to greet you.
This wasn't good.

I walked over and peeked into their favorite 
sleeping spots.
Nope!

Now my heart is beating faster and I turn to peruse the room.
When Mikey left he didn't take a whole pile of blankets
and comforters.  
They remain in a pile on the floor.
I figured if I was a chinchilla maybe I would have burrowed 
into that pile.
So, I carefully lifted them up.
No chinchillas.

Then my eyes rested on something that 
totally freaked me out.
There was a round hole in the wall down 
by the baseboard.
It was big enough for chinchillas.

Then I remembered that one of the dogs 
had gone spastic barking at nothing just a little 
earlier.  Of course we were upstairs when that 
happened but I was now picturing two curious
and hungry chinchillas parading through our walls.

Left to their own devices
Chinchillas are quite destructive
 so I had this image
in my head of them chewing every wire they came across
and then dying in the walls and smelling up the house.

Poor Mikey.
He was going to be devastated.

Sometime at about this point in my panic
I noticed that what had been blocking the cage door
shut was completely gone and the door was 
hanging wide open.

Wait a minute.
Could it be?

Maybe Mikey came and took them.
But when?
Surely if he had been here I would have known.
I checked the window.
It was locked.
He didn't pull that old climb in and out the window trick.
I hadn't seen him all day.
How could this be?

So I called Warren and asked him to find Mikey at work.
I had to know.
(Isn't it convenient that all of the 
kids work "with" Warren?)
Sure enough.
Mikey had moved his chinchillas to his new home
and they were happy as could be.

All of this had happened the night before while
Warren and I were practicing music with Pastor Mike.
Before we returned home Mom had picked up 
Jonathan for his overnight shift.
Jonathan was the only one in our house who knew
that Mikey had taken the chinchillas and by the time he 
got home from work yesterday morning it didn't occur to 
him that I might want to know that piece of information 
so he just went to bed without mentioning it.

Now, 
I know this is a big long story about "nothing".
Except that it isn't.
You see, 
If I hadn't been dreading what I was afraid I would 
find in that room I would have been a lot more logical.

As Michael told Warren,
he had taken the food bowl, 
the water dispenser and their wheel.
It was perfectly empty in the cage.
They would not have pulled all of those things into 
the wall to start their own little city.
But because I had dread of a worst case scenario
my mind created one.

From now on this will be a reminder to me
to stay positive.
You tend to see what you expect to see.
Although in my defense I could have imagined
happy, full tummied chinchillas in there 
and that wouldn't have been the case either.
lol

I wonder how long it will take me 
to take over that room........
now that they are gone!

8 comments:

PJ @ Planned in Pencil said...

I have a similar story of rodent panic. I bought T a hamster for his birthday one yes, on the ride home I was on the phone and didn't notice it chewing its way out of the cardboard box they had given me. So I got home, grabbed the cake and the cardboard box which was WAY TOO LIGHT! Oh no! There is a hamster loose in my car, and I thought the same thing. It's going to chew all the wires and create a huge problem. So we searched, oh we searched and by the tiniest bit of divine intervention T heard a muffled squeek from under that piece of plastic that you step over as you get in the car. He pried it up and there was the hamster, disgruntled at being disturbed. We named it PITA, for Pain In The.... :) Oh, and while we were searching our black lab got into the cake and ate everything she could reach. What a memorable day!

Theresa said...

Bless your little heart! I am SO happy that they are in a happy home with your Son and NOT in your walls:) Have a blessed day, HUGS!

Vee said...

I have a similar story about a floating rat. But that's for another day. I agree...we often find just what our hyper-imaginations expect to find. Bet your heart was pumping really good! ☺

My suggestion is run don't walk to claim that room for your own! ☺☺

Susy said...

The great chinchilla caper ~ well told, with a happy ending. (:

Karen said...

Yikes! I would have been in the exact same frame of mind as you found yourself! Glad all was fine.

Is Mikey's room becoming a candle-making factory? A place you can set up and be able to walk away without putting everything back out of the way each time? That'll be so nice!

Buttercup said...

Oh my! I've had friends who have been having a squirrel problem and what a mess that has been for them.

P.S. The candles arrived and they are great. The aroma is so pretty. I lit the little citrus candle in my cupcake candle holder and it made my evening last night. Many thanks!

Deanna Rabe - Creekside Cottage Blog said...

Wowzer!

Now you have a place to make your candles! Hurray!

Deanna

ps - glad your grandchillas were with their daddy...and not you know...

Vickie said...

Hi Becky! I'll bet you've already taken over that room!

Cute story with a happy ending! I've never had chinchillas, but a couple of Josh's snakes got out in the house...