Our home is 8 miles from Mariposa, 35 miles from Yosemite National Park. Having moved rudely into their forest, the local fauna mostly avoid us, but some are quite enthusiastic to combine living quarters.

Mice are notorious freeloaders. We uneasily tolerated one until he shat in our silverware drawer, and now he resides in mousey heaven.

Another has taken residence in my truck. She started by building a humble nest in the glovebox using my registration and insurance cards, which I removed. A few days later she constructed a warm and intricate nest from bits of my wife’s scarf. I removed that too.

Today she completed a fuzzy castle, solid enough to repel any human intruder. I’m scared to learn what was used for this one.