Houseguests

I have houseguests.

Jim and Inge Ledahl arrived over a week ago from home--that being our dear little ville of Horton Bay, Michigan. Here they are at the Egyptian Museum, where we spent the better part of a day wandering the halls and exploring the King Tut exhibits. I am so glad they decided to accept my hospitality and visit Egypt. They have been fun to have around and we have explored a good bit of Cairo.

I also discovered that in addition to the two legged variety of houseguest; fun to have around and do things with, I have another smaller houseguest--a four-legged one.

I went into the kitchen one morning at my usual time of about 6:30 am to make some coffee, and found this fellow, or one of his relatives. He/she--can't tell which when they are scampering away at a good clip--decided to make a hasty retreat, running around the entire perimeter of the kitchen counter to the refridgerator and then disappeared. I have no idea where. This is a most unwelcome houseguest. I searched for "leavings" and found none, so it was a clean houseguest at least.

My apartment building is not new, but it is n0t old, in the ancient Egyptian sense, either. It is holy, though. Because there is no rain here and the temperature is mild all year round, workmen just drill holes through the walls for cables, electric lines , antennas, plumbing or anything that needs to come into the apartment from the outside that was not built in originally. One example is the plumbing and evaporators for the air conditioning systems. These buildings were built before air conditioning was commonplace. The condensers sit outside suspended on the side of the building with the electrical and plumbing connections coming through the walls. Same for cable T.V. So there are lots of holes that mice can surely fit through.

Then there is the door wall that I leave open to let fresh air blow through the apartment when I am home. I suppose a little house-visitor---isn't a guest here really, although it did take advantage of my hospitality, could come in.

This little visitor shall be discouraged once I fnd the proper traps to set around. I will let you know how it goes. Jim and Inge have yet to see this little fellow. I hope it is gone by the time they get back from their cruise.