Turning Out my Pantry

It's approaching that time of year when I get the unwelcome, but irresistible, urge to deep clean the house, a kind of late autumn spring clean.    

An important part of the ritual is cleaning out the pantry, taking stock, making lists.     It is a large pantry with about four and a half miles of shelving.

The very large kitchen table, a relict of those days when I had to cook and serve enormous family meals each day, becomes the repository.   One shelf load fills the table.

The table was almost full when I discovered that we had had (have) an unwelcome visitor living in amongst the dry goods.............presumably this mouse (click for the story), which two cats, a dog and the humane mouse trap have failed to capture.  

I believe they are keeping it as a pet.