Wait a minute!

That's not a bird -- it's a mouse! On my bird feeder! Eating the nuts!



(You might want to click on the photo to enlarge it.)

It is rather cute, with its big eyes, big ears, and little paws. Unfortunately, it's time is almost certainly running out, and I will be forced to remove its limp carcass from Shin's clutches at some point in the near future. But not today; it's too wet for Shin to go outside and she is instead luxuriating on her blankie downstairs. Bless.

Update: As expected, I had to retrieve a dead mouse from Shin this morning. It wasn't quite dead when I fought her off, so I put it in the hedge outside to recover. Big mistake. Nin brought it in about an hour later, and Shin, no doubt outraged by my earlier betrayal, proceeded to wolf it down. Now, I can't guarantee that it's the same mouse -- it actually looks smaller and less golden than the one above -- but it's still depressing. For me, and the mouse (of course).