The First Tale (as told by Josh)
As I've said before, one of the greatest things about where we live is the fact that we back up to a nature preserve. In just a few short months, we've been visited by several deer, an owl, foxes and plenty of turkeys. Last week, we were given the pleasure of meeting a new outdoor friend: a mouse.
Due to the long (and, let's be honest, it's been long) winter, Mr. Mouse (that's what I call him) was likely caught outside during a cold spell and needed shelter from the blustery winds. Fortunately, Mr. Mouse stumbled upon a cute English-looking cottage and found a hole just big enough in the garage to squeeze through.
Famished from his journey from field to finely decorated house, our furry friend needed to regain his strength. Low and behold, the kind owners had left out a delicious, fluffy corn muffin just for him!! (though, the ziploc bag made it slightly more difficult to enjoy). While I had yet to meet Mr. Mouse face to face, I imagined he looks like this:
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| Hello! I'm pleased to meet you! |
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The Second Tale (as told by Ashley)
One of the "great" things about living next to a nature preserve is that the boundary between house and forest is blurred. Turkeys have claimed our yard as their own. An owl considers the tree out front her personal post. And this past week, mice have decided they are just as sick of winter as the rest of us and are finding more "tropical" environments to wait out the weather.
On Sundays, I always make something for Josh and I to take for lunches during the week. Homemade chicken noodle soup was on the menu and, of course, freshly baked corn muffins. I put them each in their own ziploc bag (convenient 'grab and go' portability) and went to bed that night. On Monday morning, I noticed one of the bags had a hole in it. Since it was next to the burner on the stove, I figured it had melted from the heat. Just to be safe, I threw it away and took another muffin for lunch.
THANK.
GOD.
Tuesday went by without incident.
Wednesday morning I awoke to find evidence that an evil rodent had breached our home. The last corn muffin (inside a now-ripped ziploc bag) had A GIANT HUNK out of it. Upon further examination of the bite marks, I concluded he must look similar to this:
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| Enlarged (slightly) for effect. |
I marched upstairs and showed my husband (Josh) evidence of our intruder. Clearly, drastic measures needed to be taken.
After work, I visited the local hardware store and purchased several traps for the kitchen and the basement (clearly, our new "friend" is using the tuck-under garage as an access point). It pained me beyond belief to use my sacred food (peanut butter) on a lowly, disgusting mouse trap but desperate times call for desperate measures.
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| I hope mice like Ezekiel bread and organic peanut butter... |
With fingers crossed, we went to bed that night hoping to catch (and kill) this rabid menace threatening our health and home.
The Epic Conclusion (the finale of BOTH tales- as told by Josh and Ashley)
Thursday was a bust. No mouse. We figured that the trap was probably not in the right place (around the corner of the kitchen island) and needed to be more out in the open at night.
Sure enough, Friday morning, Ashley nervously went downstairs to leave for work when she peeked around the corner and saw a tail.
A long. skinny. white. tail.
Our nemesis/Mr. Mouse must have met his demise earlier that morning (warning: graphic image ahead - do not proceed if you just ate breakfast, or any meal for that matter):
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| OMG this "mouse" is either on steroids or extremely well fed. |
While we'd like to think we caught the sole perpetrator, our hunch is that more furry friends are still hiding in the house. Tonight, we're putting out a fresh trap and hoping (Ashley especially) that we catch the last of the new visitors.
Once it gets warmer out, we'll be tasked with closing the gaps in the garage and the holes in the walls we think they are using as an entrance.
Oh the joys of home ownership.
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