As most of my readers know, I have little patience for the suburban pests that seem to multiply in my yard. By now, you also know about the bird feeding table here right in front of the window where I work. On a normal day, the dark-eyed juncos appear around the time I’m having my oatmeal, 7:30ish, then the chickadees show up. Some days they fight with the juncos. Some days the juncos fight with each other. The occasional titmouse comes by with its mate. Ditto the towhee. There’s a wren or two, and over to the left is the hummingbird feeder. When I’m staring at the laptop screen, which is 99% of the time, any odd movement (such as a squirrel jumping on the table) registers immediately.

At lunchtime, there was a really strange shaking of the nandina bush next to the table. When I peered around the screen, there was a little mouse laboriously making its way up the branches. It looked like a small stuffed animal.

The roof rats, for which this area is famous, tend to come out just before dark, which is why I bring in the bird food around 8:00 p.m., even earlier now that the light is changing. From time to time we can see them scurrying along the tops of the fences. Nasty-looking, ratty things. Sometimes they leap up on the table right after sunset, completely creeping me out. But this doesn’t happen very often.

Now this tiny thing was struggling to get up the bush. It looked a little like a field mouse, but cuddlier. Could it have been someone’s pet, used to a human mealtime ? When I got outside, it took a good look at me before scrambling down the branches and away.

I should have gotten a photo.