RIP Distraction Mouse

 

Distraction Mouse started life under my pillow. Okay, I think technically he started life in a Chinese factory. He has a plastic core with something inside that rattles. He’s covered in rabbit fur (rabbits that were used for culinary purposes).

But in our house, he started life under my pillow. We have a kitten that, during the warm summer evenings, would loudly play all around the bedroom and attack fingers and toes. (Less-so in the winter; he hunkers down under blankets and in his igloo bed.) I kept Distraction Mouse hidden under my pillow as a, well, you know, distraction. When Cornelius got a little too crazy, I’d pull out the mouse, rattle it at him, then hide it again. He’d switch focus to looking for the mouse and we could go back to sleep.

In the beginning, Distraction Mouse was orange, similar to this:

2015-01-04 18.21.10

 

I don’t remember exactly when, but during one of the bedding changes, Distraction Mouse got captured. It doesn’t take more than a day for any such mouse to completely lose its leather tail. Distraction Mouse lost his tail fairly quickly.

Over a couple of months, Distraction Mouse became more and more bald. The receding hairline started with the colored fur. His skeletal shell also started getting puncture wounds.

2015-01-03 09.58.23

A few days after the previous photo, he’s almost completely bald, staring at you with his creepy red eye.

2015-01-04 10.29.06

And a day after that, there’s no more loose skin.

2015-01-05 18.44.42

It reminds me of the Terminator for obvious reasons.

I’ll probably let him play with the carcass for a few more days, then quietly retire Distraction Mouse. We have a few more fresh mice in a drawer in the kitchen.

Posted in: Dear Diary

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Brian Enigma

Brian Enigma is a Portlander, manipulator of atoms & bits, minor-league blogger, and all-around great guy. He typically writes about the interesting “maker” projects he's working on, but sometimes veers off into puzzles, software, games, local news, and current events.

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