Livestock

On a farm, you get used to critters.  We have our cattle in the barn.

Gilbert the wonder dog, who hangs out in the house and mostly rules the roost.

A herd of barn cats who travel from barn to garage, where the food dish is, to the basement, where they can get out of the cold.

They are able to freely come and go from the basement, where, it is my theory, the field mice decide to become house mice. 
So then why did my fat lazy house cat, Callie find a mouse in the house the other night?  A mouse that she apparently cherished enough to keep away from Gilbert, but not enough to hang onto?   Great, so somewhere under the couch (or somewhere in the house anyway), is a small verminy mouse.
Yuck.  I hate mice.