Table of Contents

1. Tito the Lonely Little Mouse

2. The Trip to Gramma and                Grampa's

3. First Day at the Lake

4. Fishing for the Big One

5. Adventure at Rat Creek Dam

6. Home Sweet Home

          Tito the Lonely Little Mouse

Once Upon a time there was a lonely mouse named Tito. He lived alone in the walls of a little two story house.  

Everyday Tito would hear happy noises coming from the other side of the wall.  This made Tito very curious so he decided to investigate.

He waited until the house was quiet and found a small crack in the wall, just big enough to squeeze through. 

                        "URGH! EEEGH! AAAGH! WHEW! 

                                I made it" said Tito. 

 "WOW!" said Tito, when he looked around. The room was was very bright and there were many colorful things on the floor.  Tito climbed over, and under, and inside, he climbed on things that would spin and turn him upside down.  He laughed and giggled and felt like he was in the most fun place in the world. Tito found furry fluff on the floor and rolled and played in all its softness. He PLAYED and PLAYED, and PLAYED, until he was all PLAYED OUT!  He was tired and needed a place to sleep.

Tito spotted a nice big book laying on the floor.  He chewed a small hole to the center of the book and made a little opening, just the right size to sleep.  He collected some of the furry fluff from the floor and made a nice cozy little bed.  Tito curled up in his new bed and fell fast asleep. 

The next morning just as the sun was coming up, Tito was awakened by a noise. "OH MY!" thought Tito.  And just at that moment Link opened the book. 

"EEEGH!" Screamed Tito

"AAAGH!" Screamed Link, as they both looked at each other in fright. 

Tito in his little mouse voice said, "My name is Tito, and I am a little mouse who lives in this house. I am all alone, and just want a friend!"

Link with joy in his eyes said, "My name is Link, I am a little boy who lives in this house. I have a lot of toys, but I would like a friend too!  I will be your friend Tito." 

And this is how Tito and Link became BEST FRIENDS!

The Trip to Gramma and Grampa's

On the very first day of their friendship, Link's family was planning a trip to visit Gramma and Grampa.  Link was so excited, but he did not want to leave his new-found friend behind.  "Hey Tito," said Link "Will you come to Gramma and Grampa's with me?" "PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, say yes." 

"What is a Gramma and Grampa?" asked Tito.

 "They are people like Mommy and Daddy, but they are old and have wrinkles and saggy skin."said Link. "Grampa has white hair, and Gramma is squishy and gooshy."  

 They give lots of hugs and kisses and they blow air from their nose and mouth that smells funny.  It's actually kind of stinky! But they love me, so I just plug my nose!"

"It's fun at Gramma and Grampa's. They live at the lake. We can explore and go on fun adventures.  PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE come with me," said Link.

"OK" said Tito "I will come with you!" 

 Link's Mommy and Daddy packed the car with suitcases, food, snacks, and Mica the dog.  Link packed his favorite toys and books and put Tito safely in his pocket for the trip. They all climbed into the car and away they went.  The trip to Gramma and Grampa's is a LONG, LONG, LONG, VERY LONG car ride.

After many hours in the car, Tito needed to stretch.  He poked his head out of Link's pocket and Mica saw Tito for the very first time.  Mica looked at Tito with a scorn on her face.  Link said to Mica, 

"SUSH,  this is my little mouse friend Tito!!  Will you be Tito's friend too?"  Mica had a sniff and a little lick of Tito to check him out.   "EEEGH" said Tito, "that was slobbery!"  Mica was gentle though and agreed to be Tito's friend. 

Tito crawled out from Link's pocket and climbed on to Mica's nose. He ran down Mica's back right to her bushy tail.  "OH MY" exclaimed Tito, "This is the BIGGEST, FLUFFIEST, bed I have ever seen!!!"  "It is not a bed" said Mica, "It is my tail."  "It looks like a perfect bed, can I sleep here?" asked Tito.  "Well, maybe just this once." said Mica.  So Tito curled up in Mica's tail and fell fast asleep. Link and Mica closed their eyes and fell sound asleep too.

A LONG, LONG, LONG time later they arrived at Gramma and Grampa's.  It was very late at night, so after hugs                   and kisses, everyone crawled into their beds                     and went  to sleep.  Tito curled up under the                     corner of Link's pillow, while Mica curled up at                   the foot of the bed. Goodnight, sleep tight!

It was a  sunny morning when Link woke-up and remembered he was at Gramma and Grampa's.  He reached for Tito under his pillow and gave him a little poke to wake him. Mica was already awake and outside.  "Come on Tito," said Link "Let's have breakfast and go outside!  After breakfast, with full tummies, they went out to  play.

First Day at the Lake

Link was on the lookout for squirrels, while Mica was looking for sticks.  Tito was scared of the big outdoors and hid in Links pocket.  Everything made strange noises. The water made noise when the waves hit the dock and rocks, the trees made noise when the wind blew through, the squirrels and birds made noises.  All of these sounds were new and different from home in the city. Link said, "Tito it's OK, these are the sounds of nature, and nature is our friend." Tito crawled out of Link's pocket and they explored the bush, yard and lake shore together.

When they were resting on a log in the bush, along came Mr. Ruffed Grouse.  He said, "You are sitting on my dancing log!"  Link said, "If we get off your log, will you dance for us?" Mr. Grouse said yes.  They jumped off the log and Mr. Grouse hopped on. The tail on Mr. Ruffed Grouse got big like a fan, he danced and made thumping, drumming noises on the log.  Mica heard the noise and came running to see.  It scared Mr. Grouse and he flew up to the top of a tree, not to be seen again!

Link, Tito and Mica decided to explore the shore by the dock.  Link put on water-wings for safety, because he couldn't swim yet.  When they got to the dock they saw Mama Duck                        and her babies swimming in the water.                                  

      Tito got scared       so he jumped on              Mica's back.

Mica forgot about Tito and jumped into the water to say hi to Mamma Duck and her babies. Mica went under the water and Tito almost fell off. Drenching wet, Tito climbed to sit between Mica's ears, and held on tight.

Mama Duck was frightened by Mica, so she swam with her babies as fast as they could to the other side of the bay.  Disappointed, Mica swam back to the dock where Link was waiting to dry Tito off with his shirt.  "Link we need to learn how to swim,"  said Tito "It is fun to be in the water!"

It was lunchtime, so Gramma called Link to come and eat.  Mica followed, and Tito jumped happily back into Links pocket.  Link shared bits of his lunch with Tito.  "After lunch we are going fishing in the boat," said Grampa. "We'll see if we can catch the Big One!" "Another Adventure" said Link. Tito was not sure what fishing is, but he would soon find out. 

Fishing for the Big One!

Gramma and Grampa loaded the boat with a cooler full of drinks, snacks, minnows, and fishing gear. Everyone climbed in and put on their life jackets. Link, Tito and Mica sat in the front of the boat, while Gramma, Grampa, Mommy and Daddy sat in the back. 

Link didn't have a pocket for Tito, so he put him under his hat. It was nice riding in the front of the boat.  Tito peeked out from under links hat to see the beautiful lake.  "This is awesome," said Tito.  "I love to ride in the boat!"  Just then a big gust of wind blew Link's hat off his head  taking Tito with it. Grampa quickly turned the boat around to fetch Link's hat, not knowing  little Tito was in it.  Mica knew Tito would be in trouble because he couldn't swim.  So when the boat was close enough Mica jumped overboard and swam to get the hat, and rescue Tito. 

When Mica reached Tito he was barely hanging on. Mica had him hop into the hat and hold on tight.  She swam with the hat in her mouth back to the boat, and gave the hat to Link. 

Everyone was so proud of Mica for rescuing the hat, but Link was happiest of all because Mica saved his little friend Tito!

When Link was drying Tito with his towel, Tito in his water logged little mouse voice asked Link, "Was that Fishing?" Link Replied "No Tito, that was my hat blowing off in the wind!"

When Grampa reached the fishing spot, everyone put a minnow on their hooks and threw out their lines.  Grampa showed Link how to hold his rod and how to reel it in. "This is Fishing," Link whispered to Tito who was curled up resting in his towel.

It wasn't long before Link felt a BIG tug on his line!  He gave his rod a jerk, and the fish was hooked.  It was a BIG, VERY, VERY, VERY BIG fish!  Link reeled the line in, and "ZING" the fish would pull the line out, Link would reel it in, and "ZING" the fish would pull the line out!  After a while Link was getting tired, but so was the fish.  Link reeled one last time and Daddy landed the fish in the net.  It was HUGE!!  It was longer than Mica, and its mouth was as big as Link's head.  It was a MONSTER Jack Fish! The fish was too big for Link to hold!  It flipped  onto the floor and came face to face with Tito resting on the towel.

 Tito was frightened and scrambled out of it's way, while Daddy picked the fish up and put it back into the water.  It was too big to keep.   

Everyone had a great day and caught enough fish for supper. 

       But,  it was Link who 

        "Caught the Big One!"