So, those of you that stay in close contact with us will know about our ongoing saga with a . . .
MOUSE in our HOUSE!
About four weeks ago, a week before Halloween, we discovered that we had a mouse in our house. We heard some scratching noises coming from a kitchen cupboard and later found chewed up snack bars and candy in that cupboard plus two other places. GRRR.
Ok, so the sneaky little mouse eventually got caught in a humane trap, only to escape said trap. So we invested in some more heavy cute, less humane traps (including the old fashioned spring traps). The little devil sprung all of the traps and stole all the food without being caught!
Round two . . . Matt sets another trap that is much less humane (traps the mouse inside with no possibility of escape). The next day, the mouse was caught. We thought we were done. A few days later, I'm in the original kitchen cupboard (which has been stripped of all food items that are not in hard Rubbermaid containers) and what do I find? Mouse droppings!!! Since I had just put some items in there the day prior (after we had caught the original pest), I knew there had to be another mouse.
Matt reloaded all of our traps with fresh food, but the mouse would not take the bait. Finally, Monday night, James was brushing his teeth on the stairs (don't ask me why he was there with his toothbrush) and yells, "I just saw the mouse!" Well, the little critter had taken up residence underneath the shelf in our kitchen where we keep coloring books, play-doh and such. We carefully moved the shelf enough to trap in under a large plastic bin when he ran out. Sure enough, we caught him. Now what?!?
We slid a large piece of thick cardboard under the bin, taped the bin to the cardboard and took him several miles away to be released into the wild. I have friends, who have had rodent problems, tell me that professional pest controllers have told them you have to take them 3-5 miles away from the food source or they will find their way back to you and your lovely scented food. So Matt and the boys took the little guy out to the Shakespeare Festival ground (on the other side of the river) and released him.
Hopefully, he's happily romping in some grass today.
The following are pictures of the mouse in the bin.
A freshly caught mouse trying to escape.
A very tiny mouse in the corner of the bin.
James, still with toothbrush in hand, watching the mouse.
Jacob's cat, Orangey, standing guard over the caught mouse.
Unfortunately, when they returned, Jacob was very distraught over letting the mouse go. Apparently, he wanted to keep it as a pet! The next day, the kids drew lots of pictures of their little friend as therapy.
Jacob's preschool class has a Christmas program every year. This year, they donned reindeer antlers and the girls all had red noses! They were so cute. Jacob has been singing "Rudolph, the Red Nosed Reindeer" and "Go Tell it on the Mountain" constantly. Of course, they are not complete without the hand motions to go with them.
