Christy and I were sitting in the living room last night, watching one of the dozen or so Christmas specials that she’s got on the DVR, when we hear what sounded like scratching or clawing coming from somewhere in the kitchen.  We were confused as to what it might be at first, but after pausing the movie, the scratching confirmed…we had a mouse in the house.

So we go into the kitchen with much apprehension…wanting to get rid of it, but of course not wanting to be the one that actually did the getting rid of.  After some investigation, we concluded that the mouse was likely under the cabinet (between the cabinet and floor), trying to scratch his way through the bottom of the cabinet floor and into the cabinet.  Christy took a big plastic spatula and banged the cabinet hoping it would scare him away, and it did for a minute…but after we settled back into our seats in the living room, we heard it again, and might I say, with renewed vigor.

We decided to ignore it…we couldn’t do anything about it because he wasn’t somewhere we could “get him”…so I set out some sticky mouse traps I had leftover from last year and we figured if he came out, he’d likely get trapped.

About 15 minutes later, I stood up to get some water, and what do you know…a mouse on one of the traps I had just set down just minutes ago.  I showed Christy and she decided it was time for her involvement in this issue to end.  It was up to me to remove the mouse paper.  Well, I had done this before so it wasn’t a big deal, but see, I have a little soft spot for mice.  I mean, they aren’t that different from hampsters and the like, and well, those are almost pets.  And every time I see a mouse, it reminds me of Stuart Little.  Corny, I know…

Well, I get the mouse paper, mouse attached of course, and put it into a big white garbage bag.  The saddest thing is as I was putting him into the bag, I heard a little squeak from the little guy…it nearly broke my heart.  As I was taking him out to the big garbage can outside, I told him I was sorry and that if he had just stayed outside, I wouldn’t have had to do this, and hopefully his family will learn from his mistake and stay outside.

I laid another trap right where the previous one had been, and another one by the fireplace, and we went to bed.  I fully expected there to be a mouse or two on the traps this morning, but alas, nothing was there.  Maybe they listened to my advice after all.

And now it’s time to head out for a day of basketball with my brother and dad.  We’re getting together to watch the Ohio State/Florida basketball game then going to the UAB game tonight.

I might not post again until after Christmas, so to all my readers (all 3 of you), Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!