I discovered a mouse in my silverware drawer the other day. I think we both had quite a shock, actually. I pulled open the silverware drawer, reaching for a fork, and found myself face-to-face with a pretty surprised mouse! I let out a little yelp and slammed the door shut. It’s probably just luck that I didn’t decapitate the little critter right then and there. I know having mice in an old farmhouse like ours is pretty much commonplace, but I hate mice. And we have not had any in our house in quite a long time. So this was definitely a surprise!
Kate came into the kitchen when she heard the commotion. When I told her there was a mouse, she ran to get one of our cats. I commenced disassembling my kitchen cabinets. I hate mice. The little creep had been in each and every drawer, leaving droppings, urine pools, and chewed up hot pads all over the place. Eew. Eew. Eew.
Kate brought the cat. This was, in and of itself, quite humorous. Our “inside” cats are not much more than small beanbags and are embarrassingly overweight. I had little faith in their ability to catch a mouse. I was right. The cat just sat there like a lump of lard on the floor. Time for Plan B.
Doug came in to see what was going on, since Kate had been scrambling and shouting all over the house about the mouse. By this time I had all the drawers out, but there was no mouse. Seeing an opening between the cabinet and the sink, we opened the cabinet below the sink. No mouse. Well, we didn’t THINK there was a mouse. Kate happened to spot it, clinging to one of the water lines with a very startled look on its face. The shrieking commenced again.
I’m pretty sure the mouse was struck deaf, because Kate started screaming and yelling, hopping around like the floor was on fire. I ran to get our Jack Russell terrier, Lizzie. By the time I got back with Lizzie the mouse had vacated the area and we lost him. Drat. Now there was a mouse in my house and I HATE mice.
Later that evening I picked up our local paper from the kitchen cabinet. My kitchen was now in a state of total chaos, since I had to take all the drawers out of the cabinet and it was too late at night to start the sanitizing process needed before I could put them all back. So I didn’t have any place to set my paper down to read it. Except the top of the stove. So, that is what I did.
As I read, trying to relax a bit before bed, I heard “crunch, crunch, crunch … nibble, nibble nibble,” coming from under my newspaper. “You’ve got to be kidding,” I thought. I set the paper aside and lifted the stove top. Yup. There sat the mouse. Again, startled.
I hollered for backup, and looked for padded leather gloves. I thought I would just catch this little creep myself! But I could only find one padded leather glove. So I used an oven mitt. It already had mouse crap on it, so why not!?
Doug helped herd the mouse in the right direction, and after some scrambling, name calling, and near-misses, I caught it. Success!
I took the mouse outside, intending to let the more predatory “outside” cats and/or Lizzie have it. Lizzie snatched it out of my hand and promptly dropped it on the ground. At this, the mouse seized the opportunity and darted away! Another mad scramble ensued as we chased the mouse around and under the deck until Lizzie finally caught it. And that was the end of the mouse. Thank goodness. Now the process of sanitizing my kitchen has started. I hate mice.
Photo: Fototlia/Igrik