Unless you live under a rock, you probably heard that there was a little thing that happened on Monday called an eclipse. Where we live, we were only able to see a partial eclipse, but it was still pretty fun to watch the shadows change and the birds get really quiet. We also poked a hole in a paper plate so Boyo could see the shadow of the eclipse on the ground. We had planned on busting out Hubby’s welding hood, but we figured the paper plate route was probably a better option for a squirmy kid like him.

Boyo loved it.

He’s been asking for more ‘sun moon’ ever since.

In other news, we have been battling a mouse invasion in the house. About a week or so ago, Murphy cat carried a dead mouse in to the living room at 3 in the morning – just after hubby had gotten home from work – and proceeded to bat the thing around before we could grab it and clean it up. Since we hadn’t seen any other signs of mice, we assumed that it was just a one off thing and that it had probably snuck in with an Amazon order that we had received the day before.

And then early on Saturday we learned that, no, that one mouse was not just a random occurrence because Murphy cat caught another mouse, and decided to leave this one in our bed. Only it was very much alive. So we caught it, released it, and promptly searched the house. More mice were sneaking in through a hole under the sink and crawling through our cabinets. Lovely.

At least they were just common house mice and not deer mice – which can be a problem out here. Deer mice are carries of the dreaded Hantavirus. House mice are not. But I’ve been wearing a bandanna when I clean, just in case.

So the past four-ish days have been spent plugging holes, cleaning, and more cleaning, and then checking and rechecking the cabinets for more signs of the stupid buggers. Thankfully,  we seem to have stopped them, but I’m sure they’re out there. Just looking for a way to get in.

Murphy cat is NOT helping matters either. I plug a hole up with steel wool, and I’ll come back a couple of hours later to find the steel wool sitting on the ground and him sitting right next to it with a smug look on his face. Clearly, he is not happy that we are trying to take his toys away.

Needless to say, between the Eclipse AND battling the mice invaders, I haven’t had much time to write recently. Last night was the first night I was able to actually sit down and jot a few words down – and even then I was so drained that I think I maybe wrote a paragraph before I gave up and decided crawling into bed was a better idea instead.

Stupid mice. I was making such good progress on the pen name project until you came around. Jerks.

But, enough about the mice. Let’s move on to something more fun shall we?

WIPpet Wednesday is a weekly blog hop where we share snippets of whatever project we’re working on. Since sharing anything from The Undying Ones would be considered spoilers for the moment, I’ve been sharing snippets from one of my fanfics instead.

Today’s date is the 23rd, so here are six more paragraphs (2*3=6) from Between Two Words. This scene follows shortly after last week’s snippet. Basically Domick has given up on Guitar Hero and returned to the table to eat and drink when he spots something strange.

“Mm.” Even though she was doing her best to reassure him, he still felt more than a little frustrated that he had been bested by a child’s game. He glanced over his shoulder just in time to see Marcus reach a new high score. He frowned, more than a little put out that a child over twenty years his junior was doing so much better than him.

And then a glint of gold drew his gaze upwards.

Above the game Marcus was playing on hung a row of bright fluorescent lights. A tiny golden firelizard perched on one, watching Domick from afar. He knew, almost immediately, that it was Menolly’s Beauty, but he was confused that she did not approach him. Instead, the creature continued to gaze at him, her forked tongue flicking out to taste the air and tail twitching in agitation as she clung to the metal chain of the light.

Then he blinked, and she was gone. Judging from the reactions of those around him, he had been the only one to spot the little queen. Everyone else continued playing their games, eating pizza, or watching the TVs. They were completely oblivious to the fact that a being from another world, a creature of myth and legend had been in their presence. On the one hand it was maddening. Here he had just had proof that he was not insane, that it was possible to get home – for if Beauty could find him, surely it was possible for a dragon to reach him as well. However, on the other hand he was relieved, for if she had been spotted… well, he did not want to think of what might have happened. Mudd had told him about a place called Roswell and a crash that had happened there once upon a time. He did not want one of Menolly’s fair subjected to such a thing if they were ever caught.

Norah reached out and touched his arm. “Are you okay? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”

“It was nothing.” He brushed her hand away before reaching out and pouring himself some of the amber liquid out of Mudd’s pitcher. He quickly guzzled it down. “Everything is fine.”

To read more WIPpet Wednesday posts, go here.