Dog Paws and Nibbly Mice

We're at the time of year when it becomes a battle to keep the floor clean. There's just so much mud out there.

I take my shoes off at the door, to avoid tracking it inside, and when Dave remembers, he does the same.

And yet this is how the floor looked Saturday afternoon. You don't have to be Sherlock Homes to figure out who the canine culprit was.

I got down on my hands and knees and cleaned all the floors. (Yes, we do have a mop, but it's actually easier for me to just sponge the high-traffic areas.) The telltale pawprints are now gone. For the time being.

Then I took Olga to Hampstead Heath where she got extra muddy but had an awful lot of fun. She got bathed when she got home so we avoided further floor messiness.

I couldn't resist running the photo through Waterlogue just to see what would happen. It's a bit too subtle, isn't it?

(I promise I won't do this with every single picture I take.)

So, have I mentioned we're going to Budapest tomorrow? (Provided the courier from Olga's "pet hotel" in Enfield shows up to collect her today, as planned.) I think I wrote about it when we planned the trip several weeks ago, but yeah, the departure date is finally almost here. I know -- it snuck up on me, too!

Yesterday evening we watched three mice cavorting on the peanut-filled bird feeder outside. I've only ever seen one at a time before, so that seems like an ominous sign. The peanut feeder hangs on the wooden fence next to the patio, and they can easily climb up there via the neighbor's shrubbery. Now I'm debating whether we should move the feeder elsewhere in the garden to discourage the mice, or is it OK to allow them to eat there -- in the hope that it will keep them outdoors?

Mrs. Kravitz told me last week that she found mice in her house, and she was quite upset about it. And you probably remember I heard one chewing on our dog-food bag in the foyer. I've moved the food and I plan to get a plastic bin for it, and we've pretty much mouse-proofed everything else, so I haven't seen or heard them again.

We may have a little neighborhood infestation going on.

Where are those foxes when we need them?!