I am contemplating packing my bags and leaving… no, not because Roger and I got in a fight (we’re way beyond those types of arguements – thank goodness!) and not because I have anywhere in particular to go… but tonight I want to leave my cozy home because we have an intruder.
Ironically, I was on the phone last night telling Elizabeth about all the creepy creatures we’ve seen in our neighborhood lately. We had a raccoon under our deck about a month ago. I came eerily close to a skunk in our backyard a few weeks back. I’ve been smelling skunks way too often lately. And, I see way too many skunks and raccoons when I drive through our neighborhood at night. Roger even saw a coyote running down our street the other day. As I was relaying this all to Elizabeth over the phone I watched Ariel begin to stalk something under our stove. This didn’t register alarm at first because Ariel will play with wrappers or hair ties and when she sends her newfound toys flying under the stove or the fridge she will try for hours to recapture them. But this time her hair was raised and she was growling. Panic started to set in. I pried Roger away from his movie to confirm my suspicion… there was a creepy little beady eyed mouse under the stove. We have been invaded by the most disgusting, dirty, creepy little creature possible (ok, other than a rat). Ariel proved to be useless. She lost interest fairly quickly and sauntered off to resume her nap. Roger tried to capture the intruder while I stood on the kitchen chair watching for it’s escape. Unfortunately, the speedy little critter ran into a hole behind the cabinets so we reluctantly called off the hunt for the evening.
I poured myself a large glass of wine and crawled into bed to read in an attempt to forget that I was living with a mouse – a mouse who probably had a huge family running around between our walls - a mouse who could just as easily wander up the stairs and find it’s way into my bed. But despite my worst case scenario drama I settled into my book and had an uneventful, albeit slightly disturbing, nights sleep.
I made it through the day without any mouse sightings and only a few brief remembrances of last night’s discovery. I did, however, insist that traps and poison be purchased immediately and set inconspicuously throughout our house. I sat down to write this post, contemplating my new unwelcome visitor. I paused for just a moment and went to use the bathroom.
And that is when the Great Mouse Chase began (literally, just a few moments ago).
It is late so of course I was on the lookout for the beady eyed rodent when I went to the bathroom. While I did not see the mouse I did come across some obvious mouse droppings beside the toilet. Once again, I pried Roger away from his movie to come investigate. He agreed, the small brown specks on the floor did indeed look like mouse poop. As I watched roger mull over these droppings I noticed Ariel stalking the couch in the family room. We ran to the couch with the flashlight to find the mouse pacing under the couch. This was my clue to take my perch on the bar stool and watch for the escape. Roger poked and prodded at the mouse, getting it to run behind the playhouse for a bit - only to find it back under the couch.
With all the ruckus Riley got curious and made his way downstairs and perched himself right up on the next bar stool. Hope eventually wandered down to get in on the action. Hope had no desire to join us on our perches – she wanted to be right down in the action. I was not going to let the mouse get her though (mice can be deadly, you know…) so I swooped her up to stand safely out of reach and we (mostly me) shrieked as Roger tipped over the couch to expose the intruder for our killer pets to destroy.
I’m getting new pets!!
The speedy little mouse ran circles around Ariel and Rocco despite all our cheering and pointing and prodding them on to the creature’s whereabouts. Rocco got awfully close to the mouse over by the sliding glass door but when it ran across the kitchen Rocco just continued to sniff at the door for 20 minutes without ever finding the scent again. When Ariel saw the mouse dash across the kitchen she finally decided to join the chase and eventually cornered the mouse in our pantry. That was enough for her – she sauntered off looking almost embarrassed that she let her instincts get the best of her and disgusted that she actually participated in the chase. Riley picked Ariel up (begrudgingly though – he is still scared to death of that cat) and put her directly in front of the mouse in the pantry corner. Ariel just growled at Riley and ran off determined not to assist any further in our stupid little game.
So the job was left to Roger – using a small stick he finally captured the mouse in a box. Despite my insistence that he KILL the rodent he put the box outside, opened it up for us to all get a good view at our intruder and let it go. I wish I had this on film though because I know I saw Roger jump each time the mouse moved.
Not at all pleased that the mouse was still alive, even if it was outside of my house, I cheered Rocco on in the backyard in hopes that he could catch and kill the mouse since Roger is apparently adverse to any cruel type of punishment - even for mice. But Dachshunds are just not breed to hunt mice, are they? Again, that speedy little rodent ran circles around Rocco. Even Hope realized Rocco was useless in this chase and pronounced that she had an idea. “Does Daddy have a gun? I think we should try to shoot it”. Yes, I agree with Hope - I want to see that mouse dead. Roger and Riley laughed and responded that if a gun was involved the mouse would surely escape free of harm but one of them would end up wounded.
Next time I will call in the professionals…
I’d like to say that I am breathing easier tonight after the Great Mouse Chase but I’m afraid my idea of removing a mouse from your house is only successful if that mouse leaves your house dead! Otherwise it just leaves open the possibility that the intruder could come back…
Hope's recap of the evening: "Daddy did a really good job tonight. He tried really hard to kill the mouse but he just wasn't fast enough so he had to let it go outside."
Yes, next time we will call in the professionals.
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