Quite a fright

We should have known something was amiss last night when, after kenneling Samson (our fearless boxer) for dinner company and subsequently releasing him, he didn't charge up the stairs, knocking us over in search for the long-lost aforementioned guests. In fact, not only did he take his sweet time joining us upstairs, he lingered....hmmm....unfortunately, Top Chef was too intriguing to abandon so as to analyze this anomaly. Eventually, Sam trotted upstairs and did his usual beg to go outside, eat, beg to outside again. It's like he doesn't have enough bladder/bowel space to eat, then mesh the 2 trips outside into one....I digress. So, this morning, I went down to the basement to grab last night's laundry (I know, Mom, extra wrinkles from my procrastination) and took pity on Sam's empty bowls. I filled his food. Now, you need to understand our watering system- he has his water bowl and we have a laundry sink also downstairs. However, in my typical hurrying fashion, I always slosh the water out of the bowl by the time I get it from the sink back to his domain. So, I remedied the situation by donating a large plastic, small-mouthed pitcher (you know, the kid with a screw-on lid, which I discarded, of course) to the cause and I fill it, then fill the bowl, then use the remaining water the next day...so, as I reach for this pitcher, I notice the water is a nasty brownish-gray color. I think to myself as I reach down for it, "Self, that is some funky water...it couldn't have been more than 2 days since I filled it from the sink...?" Praise the Lord (which I did) that I never actually touched the pitcher becasue i happened to peek over the top and see...I kid you not, a dead floating mouse!!!!!!!! Oh my gosh!!!! That mouse must have been terrorizing Sam in his kennel, only to have him released and then choose suicide over canine torture! Truly, there was no easy way for him to catapult into that water...it was scooted away from all other objects...of course, Josh took matters into his own hands and disposed of the mouse and the offending pitcher is being soaked in bleach as we speak...I still may throw it away...I just wouldn't feel right doing so before bleaching it.