Mushy and slushy

"Blackbird in blooms" by Hilary J. England  7" by 7" oil on canvas

It's definitely been a mushy and slushy couple of days, with more snow supposedly coming tomorrow night...I kind of have enough years under my belt to accept the dog days of winter, so this doesn't bother me too much!  What bothers me is sharing my studio with a brazen barn rat, who, everytime I get it nice and warm in there, decides to come out and do whatever barn rat business he has to do, right in my peripheral vision--gives me the "willies!" 

I don't want to kill him since I feel that is mean, but I get to thinking, what if he has buddies?  What if he is not alone, and that is not the same guy I'm seeing?  What if there is a hoarde of them?  Yikes!!!   That just repulses me, so I am in a quandry.  I have seen him, and he is pretty unique looking--he has a thick black coat that looks pretty different, so I'm hoping he is the only one.  I just don't want him to go insane and run up my pant leg or something, haha!

My Dad has a "have a heart" trap, but it's for a raccoon, so it's huge, and wouldn't contain this little critter.  Apparently, mouse/rat sized "have a hearts" are hard to come by, because when I mentioned this to the local purveyor at the hardware store down the road, he looked at me as if I had grown a second head.  "Why wouldn't you just kill it?" was his question.  Ah, he just doesn't get it, and it's really not the poor fellow's fault.  I ask myself this question as well, but I am just very squeamish about killing anything, especially an animal.  Just an eccentricity, I guess.  But, I'll not open that can of worms...

Anyway, above is another quick study of crows/blackbirds.  It's called (simply enough) "Blackbird in blooms" and I did this one on a 7" by 7" canvas, in oils. 

So, out to the studio, and I'm hoping my "friend" stays in his own quarters in the dark recesses of the unfinished barn.  I'm not into being Captain Ahab today, so I'll just pretend he doesn't exist for right now...