The Plague, plus What's In The Basement?

I started the day feeling fine - a little tired, maybe, but fine. But as the day has gone on, it is clear that I actually have the plague. My eyes hurt, my throat hurts, every sinus cavity in my head is full of mucus, and I'm starting to get wheezy.

Ugh. I swear, between Monkey and I, it has been neverending illness for the past couple of months.

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What's In the Basement?

Last week, Loki pointed out that there were wood shavings on the floor of the basement.

"Something is down there," he said, "and I think I know what it is."

"What?" I said.

"It's a rat."

I hadn't been down in the basement since early that morning, but that night, I realized that the dryer was full of my undergarments. I had to go down to the basement or go commando.

I opened the door and clicked on the light and looked down. There it was, a small pile of wood shavings.

"It's a not a rat," I said to myself. "It's probably Madouc." It sounded reasonable to me, Madouc can get destructive at times.

So I'm slowly going down the steps. Right foot down, left foot joins it. Right foot down, left foot joins it. (That's how I go down steps because I don't have enough flexibility in my hip to extend my left leg down to the following step.) I pause again, because....I think I hear something.

"CRASH!"

I turn around and go back up the stairs as fast as I can.

I go to bed that night making sure that none of my blankets are touching the floor.

The next morning, I am calm and rational. If, in fact, there is a rat, we'll just have to get a trap and catch it.

When I got home from work, Loki says, "I know what's in the basement, and it's not a rat."

"What is it?" I ask

"It's a squirrel!" he says. Apparently, Loki opened the door to the basement and caught the little critter trying to scratch a hole through the outside door. Since it was a nice day, he cracked the outside door open and it appears he has left the building.