House Mouse

It's 10:30 p.m. Wednesday night.  Kids are asleep.  I am in my nightly routine of cleaning the stove top.  Out from under the oven runs a mouse who then quickly runs under the refrigerator.  Seriously?  A mouse in my house? 

I stop what I am doing go to the garage to let Jake know.  He is working on his "new" 1956 Ford Truck.  After I told him his reply was "Are you sure?"  Who says that to someone who just saw a mouse run across the floor?  "No, Jake I just made that up.  Yes, I am sure! Now where are the mouse traps?" his response "I guess you need to go get some, because we don't have any."

I head to town to the good ol' Wal-Mart.  It is now almost 11:00 p.m.  While I am in there hunting mousetraps I can't help but notice all the parents out with their children at this time of night.  I found myself starting to judge them. Then I stopped myself and thought you have no idea what their circumstances are or why they are here.  Just get your mousetraps and go home and catch that dang mouse.

I grew up on a farm.  I saw mice all the time and rats too. My Dad was the master at setting mouse traps.  Jake, not so much.   He eventually got it set and we went to bed.  Well, I tried to go to sleep but my mind kept on thinking about that dumb mouse and how it got into my kitchen.  I thought it might have came from California.  You see, that is where Jake's new truck came from and it had only been in the garage a few days.  Then I thought don't be silly Leah, you live in the middle of a field out in the boondocks. There are mice all around you.  But what about those boxes mom brought over from her garage?  Maybe the mouse was in one of those boxes. 

Morning came and no mouse.  Oh well, we will catch him sooner or later.  I open the pantry door to get some food to feed my three hungry mouths.  While moving some things around, out came the mouse on top of my bread.  I screamed (not because I'm scared of a mouse but because I was startled) as it looked right at me. Then i watched in crawl down to the next shelf and proceed to go into the rice krispie treat box.  I slam the pantry door shut.

Brock and Blaine are a bit spooked at this point.  Brogan is laughing at me.  Then I had a plan. I'm going to put some gloves on.  Not just any kind of glove you know those bright yellow rubber kind.  The kind your momma use to wear when she was doing a lot of cleaning.  Being a momma myself, I just happened to have some.  I tell the boys"I'm gonna grab that rice krispie treat box and throw it in the trash and then we will take it outside!"  Blaine "Ok Mommy! Let's do it." as his grip to the back of my shirt gets tighter. Brock is glued to his chair and wants  no part of the mouse.  Brogan still is in his high chair being entertained.  I open the pantry door grab the box.  And the dumb mouse was already out of the box and down the next shelf, onto the floor and then back under my oven.  Seriously?  Better luck next time.

I got another idea.  Look out I'm getting my vacuum. That will scare that sucker right out from under the oven.  And sure enough, it did!!  I screamed again as it ran across the kitchen floor but this time it went downstairs.  The boys and I watched it as it zig zagged across each step.  Brock even watched it this time. Good, maybe it will stay there and get out of my kitchen. 

Jake came home and I told him the story of our mouse being downstairs now.  He then set some traps and placed them downstairs.  As evening went on Brock and Blaine had question after question about this mouse.  "Can they climb up a bed?"  "Do they bite?" "Are they mean?"  "What kind of mouse is it?"  We looked up mice on the computer to do some research to ease their minds and answer their questions.  We even found a picture of the kind of mouse we had, a brown field mouse.  At bedtime that night Brock and Blaine still were a little uneasy about there being a mouse on the loose in their house.  Its great to be 15months old, not a clue as to what is going on.  Brogan slept like an angel.

Next morning Jake awakens me "Got your mouse last night.  You are going to have to git rid of it, I don't have time."  Great!  We caught the mouse.  Blaine wakes up "Mommy, I didn't sleep last night.  All I could think about was the mouse."  my reply "Well, you don't have to worry about that mouse anymore.  We caught it last night.  Its a goner."

Removed the mouse from the house.  Bye Bye Mr.Mousey!!!

Woke up this morning to mouse turds on my kitchen floor.  And the house mouse(s) continues.........and I'm still not convinced they aren't from California!!