Happy Halloween! "There is a child in every one of us who is still a trick-or-treater looking for a brightly-lit front porch." ~Robert Brault
Play In Three Acts - My Slice With Mice
or - Please do not think of Beatrix Potter
Act I - Scene I - (evening) - Sitting with feet propped up, dressed cozy for bed, writing. A mouse runs across the floor. Eek!
I get up, quietly go to the laundry room where I keep "stuff", like mousetraps. I have only one, and it will have to suffice tonight.
Scene II - (morning) - I rise early, tiptoe down past the office, then to the kitchen (coffee first). I've placed the trap behind a wire wastebasket in my office against a wall. (wall recommended on Google) There is no mouse, and the cheese is gone. I carefully pick up the set trap, and get out the peanut butter after once again consulting Google.
Scene III - (afternoon) - Drive to Ace hardware to buy more mousetraps. Home again, set three (with peanut butter, against a wall). SNAP. Not thinking of Beatrix Potter, I tiptoe over to the trap. There is a mouse, still. I get out the garden gloves, a sack, remove the poor thing to the trash, now thinking of B. Potter.
Act II - Scene I - (early morning) - Happy that the mouse is gone. I begin to read on the laptop, hear rustling in the kitchen. Oh no, another one! Set the traps again.
Scene II - (afternoon) - SNAP! Again I tiptoe, look over the wastebasket, and there's a mouse, but wiggling. I will NOT think of Ms. Potter! Garden gloves, bag, take the trap and mouse in the bag to the trash. I hear it wiggling, ugh. I cannot let it go, hope it leaves its little life soon. Yes, thinking of you know who.
Act III - The trash is set out for pickup. The traps are still set, but this evening I hear nothing. I did find, on a bottom shelf in the office, an old box of dog bones set way back behind all the other stuff. Gone and cleaned!
The End, I hope!
Me too! Ugh... what a process. Hope there's no more rustling. Fingers crossed!
ReplyDeleteBonnie K.
This am, nothing in the traps. Hope I have no tiny Halloween trick 'r treaters! Thanks, Bonnie!
DeleteThanks for the smile, Fran. Every year around this time we get tiny visitors from the fields around us. They seem to get in the walls. I have my supply of traps ready.
ReplyDeleteSorry, Linda. Think my mind is shot today.
DeleteIt's okay, Bob, I've been there, too. Thanks!
DeleteEw! I can't do the snap traps precisely because of my concern over "still wiggling." We have an old house with many rodent squatters. I depend on cats and small "have a heart" traps--which my husband insists are totally useless and just send the rodent out on a field trip before it returns to squat again. Great slice!
ReplyDeleteI know there are other kinds of traps, but I did not want the return, Molly. This is the first time I've ever had a wiggler. And it is "Ew". Thanks!
DeleteI can feel your anxiety. We had two little ones visit us during our porch remodel. We had a different type of trap where you didn't have to "see" them. The little door shut behind them. Love how you created a play out of this escapade.
ReplyDeletePerhaps I'll look for that 'little door' next, Judy though I hope there will not be a "next." Thanks!
DeleteI had a few mice a few years back. I realized I have a completely irrational fear of mice! Not that I like many rodents, but they've got to be my least favorite!
ReplyDeleteI had a pet mouse once, a long time ago, and my class had two rat pets (better than mice), but I don't want wild ones in my house! How did Beatrix Potter do it?
DeleteThis was a creative way to write about this icky situation. One time I caught a mouse in the house. My cat had stunned it or maybe it was poisoned. I scooped it up in a dust pan and screamed all the way outside and threw it to the wind. I was not nearly as calm as you.
ReplyDeleteThat wiggly one was tough. I waited a little while, hoping it really would go, but he did not. Your story reminded me of one time we put a wastebasket over a mouse in the house. Then we didn't know what was next! Finally slid a piece of cardboard under very carefully, & like you, threw it out into the park. Yikes, I'm hopeful it's over, & very careful about the door lately! Thanks, Margaret!
DeleteWhat a great way to tell this tale, Linda. I am squeamish about trapping mice so we use special pellets from the exterminator. We have had our occasional bouts with mice but your little creatures were great main characters.
ReplyDeleteNo more so far. I guess I am lucky! I'll have to look at more options IF there is a next time. Thanks, Carol!
DeleteWhat a tale! I should lend you my kitty. He frequently bestows gifts at my feet, near my bags. Eww... I had no idea there were so many mice in my midst!
ReplyDeleteThat's what my daughter said, to bring over one of their cats! Maybe it's time to get my own. I remember those 'gifts' when we had a cat! Thanks, Julieanne!
DeleteWhat is it about mice, that brings out all our crazy anxieties? Especially when we have to deal with them after we've trapped them? I hope your tale is done! I love how you wrote this as a three act play.
ReplyDeleteOne of our craziest mice stories occurred in CO when we visited Snow Mountain Ranch one year in the fall of the year. I think all the mice were looking for nice, warm spots out of the cold. I couldn't even bring myself to put my feet on the floor in the evenings. We would watch them (yes, plural) scurrying around while we sat with our feet tucked up in our chairs. All the food had to go in the refrigerator. Just remembering it (30 years ago because Sara was a baby) makes me feel anxious all over again!
Oh my, but I'm not surprised. We had those experiences in our cabin. "Scurry, scurry at night!" Now I guess it's a fun memory? Thanks, Ramona!
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