Within two minutes, the fearless mouse was out (with Brent and I in the room) sniffing at the trap. It sprung, and he leapt back unscathed and much smarter. Several minutes later, the trap reset and Brent and I with our popcorn for the show, Mr. Mouse poked his head out, looked at us for a while and then (after cutting a wide swath around the trap) commenced to playing under my front door. Yes, he can crawl under it. He ran around in circles for awhile and then scurried out down the first floor hall. So, he is now loose in the dorm somewhere. I now have a towel stuffed under the door, so hopefully, he won’t be able to come back and visit -- at least tonight. The trap is still set. If I hear it go off in the middle of the night, I will probably soil myself.
Earlier this week we had a little brown bat hanging from a light in the 4th floor hallway, so I’m not sure what this place is coming to. It is becoming the rodent capital of the world. Maybe I should invest in a cat. (On second thought, I’m not quite to that point.) *In case any health inspectors read this, THE DORM IS VERY CLEAN. THESE ARE FREAK INCIDENTS.*
Other than the above, it has been a nice day. Brent & I spent a lot of time together. We spent part of the day at Winton Woods -- saw some animals, walked a trail, laughed a lot. And it was good.
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I leave you with this thought for the day.
Be kind out there.
26 comments:
I must say that was an interesting read. Have a great day!
AAAAHHHHHH! I will now have Derek shaking his bags out very well before letting him back into the hosue! I don't do rodents out of their natural habitat, either.
Thank you so much for the special words of advice at the close of your riveting post. I will take them to heart and try to learn something from them.
:)
Never thought I'd be entertained reading about a mice catch!!!
Love the closing thought....I need that sign to post on my front door...as the boys get older! Maybe I could scratch our "ens"! Could you get me a copy! Ha!
I think you've heard my story of stepping on and SQUASHING a mouse in my garage with my beloved crocs..so I COMPLETELY empathize w/ya! To quote Dorinda "Girl, you killed Stuart Little!" At least you're not a murdurer like me..(but this must be REALLY bad on your heart:)
"Gentle reader"?? Hmmm - something to ponder.
At least you learned something new - how to set a trap- something I've not conquered yet. I wonder if they make lizard traps? That's what I needed when I lived in the dorm. Ugh!
Okay, this is your funniest post yet! I laughed out loud! However, I would not have been laughing had the nasty rodent made an appearance on Sunday! I probably would've been standing on your bed/couch/whatever I could get on :) And it's very possible that there could have been screams....Remember me telling you that when I had my own home and a mouse moved in, I moved out? True story! Okay, I only moved out until the little varmint was dead, but still! The nasty creature was eating my cough drops, and making a nest in my mixing bowl...Really, there is a limit to human tolerance! After I moved back in, I threw a whole bunch of stuff away, and scrubbed everything else.
One final thought: Perhaps you should start wearing depends to bed, just in case the trap springs :)
OK, I'm feeling really connected to you these days (refer to my last post). Voles and mice are relatives, you know. However, I'll bet that mousetrap you set up will be cheaper than the cheapest deal I could find to rid my entire yard of the thousands of voles - just a flat rate of $365!!!!!!! The mere figure in print has me practicing Lamaze breathing techniques! That's a whole lot of date nights or peanut butter or pretty much anything!
Enjoyed the post. Ended the day with a good laugh. Thanks!
Let me know if your trap works. The other day I watched a huge rat go into his hole in the mud behind my house. I don't know why people as good as us have to endure such torture.
I agree with Martha about the sign. Maybe you could get Viola to scratch out the letters. It sounds like she is really good at that kind of thing.
CHANGE MY INTENT TO RETURN FORM! I am not returning if we have rodents and other vermin running or flying around. :) (It would be very interesting to see all of the girls crowd into your apartment.)
Report: No further sightings of the mouse. He spurned the trap, and has not been seen since. I believe he was toying with me. I think some other traps are being set around the dorm. I wish them the best of luck. We'll see what happens. I'm leaving tomorrow, so I may never know..."the rest of the story."
Charity,
God bless you and your voles. I did read your post and am very glad it was just one mouse I had to deal with.
Kimberly,
I would have paid good money to see you step on that mouse. I'm sure you were your usual tranquil self. :-) I hadn't thought of that story for a while. It made me smile.
Marty & Kayla,
I'll see what I can do about the sign. I think your idea is a good one. If the good people at Winton Woods are missing their sign, you'll all know what happened!
Tara,
Not to worry, I'm sure that with proper precautions, Derek won't bring home anything vile.
Regi & Laura,
Thanks for the affirmation. It's good to know my posts are good for something. :-)
Kelly,
Lizard traps? Come on, those things are cool. I used to hang them from my ears when I was a kid.
Cindy,
I'm glad you weren't here when the mouse was. I would have probably been annoyed with you crawling all over my furniture. Moved out of your house indeed. Grow up, young lady. ;-)
Kim,
I'll try to direct the mouse to your room for nesting purposes. I'm sure he must have a spouse somewhere, and they have plenty of time to have a big family before you come back.
Sonja;
We just recently rid the world of a mouse. Sticky Traps are all the rage. You don't have to bait them or empty them. I'm all about not reloading something that just squished a mouse. (kind of like Kim's Crocs.) Also, it is very hard to bait a trap and not get "caught" yourself. The wretched beast in our house was in the boy's bathroom and had chewed up the "boogie sucker".Disgusting! So if you continue to use the old fashioned spring traps, try loading them with children's boogies and save the peanut butter for your brother.
EEEWWWWWWWWWWW, GROSS!
My dad used a sticky trap one time. The problem was he didn't know what to do with the mouse he caught so he took it outside and stomped on it! So this makes me curious...what do you do with the mice after you catch it?
I'll have to keep the boogie bait in mind for next time. Is it just children's boogies that work, or are adult ones useful as well?
Good question about the sticky traps. Who wants a live mouse caught on sticky stuff? At least with the old spring traps they're dead -- we hope.
So much food for thought and so deep too.
Brings back "fond" memories of the mouse I had in my room at AWC. As long as I live I'll never forget the sound of that trap going off while I was combing my hair one morning!
Quick question (actually a question for your mom): Philip remembers your mom telling "Johnny and Susie" stories when he was younger. He seems to recall that their were a series of them. Do these really exist and is there any possibility that I could find out who the publisher is? Thanks for any help. We're looking for some special reading material for the boys on Sundays and Philip has some very fond memories of these stories. Thanks a million!
Enjoy your time home :o) Sure is nice to be able to go home isn't it?
Ohhh Yum, Yum... Thanks Juwah and Sonja for the new useful information for "boogies". Dig away kids! We need to email or call Al Gore and tell him to add this one to his list of "Green"(and I mean green) things to do to stop "global warming".
I'm amazed any of you have actually had a mouse stay stuck to those sticky traps! Our experience is that we just collect wads of mouse hair and end up with the bald critters scampering around. They seem to like our vehicles parked in the garage or right outside the garage near the dog-food bowl. One time, the mechanic who was changing the oil found (some comparment, I don't remember what) filled with dog food! One of those hairless mice had been stealing from the doggie bowl! And then there is time when I was teaching piano lessons, and one of the kids failed to get the door shut. A mouse came in and another mom and I saw it. We got dome-cake-pan lids and went around chasing the crazy thing, screaming every time we saw it, trying to slam the lid down on top of it! There's something about the unpredictableness of the directions a mouse is going to that makes me nuts! Well, all that to say, what kind of sticky traps are you using that work so well?
FINALLY, I've found a topic in which I can consider myself an expert. (I've been waiting all my life for this.) Cheap Wally World sticky traps DO NOT WORK. You need to go to Lowes or Rural King to get the Black Cat brand sticky traps. As far as removing the traps, I would suggest waiting 24 hours before you check the traps, the mice die pretty quickly once they get stuck. I DO NOT suggest disposing of the trap while Mickey is still wiggling. OR if you are really cost conscious, my husband's employer buys the large sticky traps and cuts the dead mice out and sets what is left of the trap back out to catch more mice, but I'm not willing to go that far myself. As far as adult or child boogies, I'm not sure on that, but I do suspect that the sticky traps are so effective because of what the "sticky" in sticky trap really may be???
Kim;
Al Gore actually invented sticky traps as well as the internet. :)
Wow! I am overwhelmed with all this wonderful information. Thank you all for your valuable input.
Marianne,
My mom and dad did indeed tell Susie & Johnny stories. I loved them as well. I'll try to get more info for you. They would be great to read to your boys. At least I know Allan would probably enjoy them. They may escape Daniel for a while yet. :)
Julia,
That Al Gore really gets around. Even the sticky trap. Hmmm, you know if we are able to do anything to slow "global warming" (sigh), I'm sure he will take full credit for that too -- just because he made a movie. (grrrr)
Don't get me wrong, we should take care of the earth. I just smell a bit of an agenda here.
Okay this is a little demented but, a friend told me yesterday that he had a mouse loose in his shop. It went behind a bunch of garbage cans, so one his co-workers poured lighter fluid on it.
It came staggering out leaving a trail of fluid behind it, so all they had to do was light the trail. You can imagine the rest. So if you can back your mouse in a corner, you'll have it made.
Are you going to be home for Father's Day? If you read this, let me know. I would really like to have you sing for Dylan's dedication. Sorry to make this so public,but I figured you would be checking in.
I think investing in a dorm cat would be better. Pretty please, Ms. Vernon!? We'll be really, REALLY good this year. Please...please...please with a cherry on top! (She whined knowing that this type of pleading always works well with the Resident Director of Women at God's Bible School and College and Missionary Training Home). hehehe
Don't get me started on Al Gore's hypocrisy!!!! I just had a mental image of him digging for the green sticky stuff! LOL Okay.. I am getting out of hand. I need to "shut up".
Very, very, funny. Philip and I were just reading the comments and laughed our heads off at those too. If you decide to go with the booger idea let me know. Blake has seemed to have had more than his share lately. BTW I just love your blog. It truly makes me laugh out loud.
Caught a mouse tonight at my place... definitely gross. It was trying to make it's way from the basement to the kitchen, I believe, when "snap." I heard the just set up trap go off. Much rather see it in the state it is in tonight than how I saw it the other night... flying in front of me. Very scary!
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