Feb. 9, 2006 - An Unwanted House Guest...
Okay.
So I have been hearing strange noises when I'm home alone during the day...
It's not like the first week we lived here where I nearly jumped out of my skin every single time I’d hear the “Patter, patter, patter, patter, patter” of our little silly neighborhood squirrels running and jumping on our roof. Made my heart leap every time. I've now finally recognized that sound and it doesn’t startle me anymore.... well, let's just say as bad as it did! 
I also have somewhat gotten used to the weird sounds all of our hundreds of neighborhood dogs make during the day. Why they have to grunt, squeal, bark and growl all day is beyond me. And why is it that everyone lets their dogs run free in our neighborhood?? Aren’t there laws about keeping dogs on chains or in back yards when you live in the city? Now, growing up a country girl all my life, dogs ran wild all the time, but I thought that when I started living in town that little doggies would stay in their own yards where they belong. Hmmmm, I thought there were ordinances for this kind of thing. The sad thing is that they're not even cute dogs... They are all such sad looking dogs.
But even more than the doggie and squirrel noises....I've been hearing... shall we say, other noises in my house...
Like the other day I came home from class and put my keys on top of my backpack on the couch, and walked into the other room. I had only been out of the living room a minute when I heard this PLOP. It sounded a bit muffled, like maybe my keys had fallen off the couch onto the carpet. In fact, that's what I thought it was. I walked in to check and see if I was right, and there were my keys, still sitting happily on top of my backpack -- right where I'd left them. Not wanting to let my mind get away with me, I looked around the room to see if there was anything else that may have been the cause of this noise. Not finding anything, I tried to dismiss it as something my silly ears made up to entertain themselves.
I went on with my day, but later I was in the office working on the computer when I heard something else....
...Rustle...rustle....rustle....
Hmmmmmm.... Could it possibly be that there was a slight draft in the house blowing on some tissue paper in the spare bedroom? I cautiously went to investigate, not knowing if I would find wind...or something else entirely. To my surprise, I found neither.
*que eerie music*
Getting a little shiver up my spine, I swallowed the beginning-to-freak-out-ness that was welling up in my throat and decided to talk to my strong and fearless husband about it when he got home from work.
I told Travis about these rather intriguing noises I've been hearing in the house during the day. Trying to comfort me, he sweetly assured me it could just be the house trying to settle and making a few strange noises. He reminded me that there are lots of people who hear funny sounds when they are home in a quiet house. Feeling much more safe and knowing that my mind has played some really good trickes on me in the past, I purposed not to worry about it.
But I did wonder......Was I going *gulp*........ insane?
Then, last Sunday we happened to pick up our bag of bread to make some toast for breakfast and found a very small rip in the back and a little chunk that had been taken out of the last piece of bread. Goose bumps began to run up and down my arms. Oh my WORD! This was at last a definite sign!
Yep, folks. We had a..... MOUSE.
Sure enough, when I looked behind a few cans in our pantry, I saw the *ahem* signs where he had been. Oh, GROSSE.
Just knowing that some stinky, smelly, dirty little rodent had been crawling around our pantry, our kitchen, OUR house, made me soooo angry! 
I felt violated somehow by this silly little creature. What right did he have to come in and rustle our papers and eat our bread and leave his droppings in OUR pantry?! Who did he think he was?! HONESTLY. Hmph. The nerve.
As quickly as I could, I ran out and bought the necessary entrampent devices to catch this coniving little googie in the act. For a moment, I contemplated picking up a rat trap, just because it looked so honkin' big and foreboding. That'll show the little turkey...I thought to myself. But, on second thought I put it back. Afterall, I didn't want to scare him, I wanted to catch him. He was probably far too little for a scaled down bear trap like that. Besides, there was such a thing as over kill.
We set two of the traps up...one in the panty and one between the wall and the refrigerator. Rubbing my hands together gleefully and grinning to myself about the brilliance of our little scheme, we went to bed.
I slept like a baby until about 5:15 AM, and then for some reason I couldn't go back to sleep. Since our alarm was going to go off in fifteen more minutes, I decided to just lay there until then. But... at exactly 5:21.... I heard the long awaited
SNAP!
AH HA! We had at long last NABBED the thief. YESSSSS, our trap had worked! He was a goner, I just knew it.
And sure enough, when we got up a little bit later, there he was.... snagged by his own gluttony. My, my, my...the things a mouse will do for a bit of peanut butter. Haha, I thought to myself... I bet the little monster doesn't feel like such a Mighty Mouse now, huh? I felt that we, the humans, were the masters of our home once again.
Travis bravely scooped up the trap in a dustpan and threw him out. Then we proceeded to mouse-proof our house. We wanted absolutely no more rodents coming by for a visit. And, just to be sure... we left the second trap set between the wall and the refrigerator. You know... just in case.
Ahhhhh, my days are much happier now. I find myself smiling more as I work around the house. I am much more relaxed during the day. I no longer fear that I am going insane or that my mind is playing tricks on me. I'm able to live my life with the absence of strange noises coming from various places in our house. I also sleep much more peacefully at night. All in all, my existence
*contented sigh*
Life is gooooooooooood.
Comments
Feb. 10, 2006 - Untitled Comment
Posted by Momwtrmn
LOL... mice... Aaaaah, how that takes me back! Our little home is ... well... little (950 sf, 2 BR, 1 bath, 5, 6, or 7 occupants depending on who's living with us, no basement or garage)... and it's very old. It's been around for over 75 years, and there's this creepy crawl space underneath in which every imaginable creature has managed to make into a home. In our 10 years here, we've had a series of different creatures, but almost never more than one at a time: mice, roaches, fleas, weevils, yellow-jackets, silverfish, centipedes, ants, and who knows if I missed one!
I'll never forget the mice. We have cats, but they weren't trained by their mothers to be mousers, so they just kind of perk up their ears and follow them around where they crawl in the walls, etc. Anyway, one morning I woke up to make toast or bagels, and unexpectedly the toaster caught fire. Now, one might think that with mice in the house that they must have chewed the wires and shorted the appliance out causing the fire. But noooOOOooo. THIS fire was caused by the SINGING HAIRS of the little beast who was unknowingly trapped INSIDE the toaster eating the crumbs that collect at the bottom!
He died. We threw him AND that toaster away.
Hope that one little mouse was your only mouse! Congrats on catching him!
Many blessings!
Christi
Feb. 13, 2006 - LOL !!!!!!!!!
Posted by Anonymous
Oh! Myklin !!!!!!!!! You are so funny !!!!!!!!!!!! You certainly have a gift for writing !!! Your post had me giggling so hard !!!!!!!!!!! =) I could just envision (sp?) you tracking down your little mouse !!!!!!!!!!! =) That is so funny !!!!!!!!!!!!! Well, I don't mean to be bearer of bad tidings but you do know how the old saying goes ... if there is one there is TWO !!!!!!!!! So you had better watch out !!!!!!!!!!! =) We have certianly had our share of mice ... one day I was standing in the kitchen hugging my sweetie and looked over his shoulder ... (now there is a little hole in the ceiling by our light in the kitchen -- we are still in the remodeling stage) and there was a little mouse poking his head out of the ceiling looking all around ... you should have heard me yell !!!!!!!!! =) I think I gave my poor sweetie heart-failure !!!!!!!!!!!! =) =)
While I'm one the subject of little mice I have one more story I'll never forget about the time I played the organ with a mouse! I am the organist at our Church and one Sunday morning I was playing away and all of a sudden thought I felt something brush my foot on the volume pedal ... I looked down ... I thought it was a spider ... but I didn't see anything so I just went on playing ... now my Mom sits right behind the organ and she was motioning for my Dad on the platform ( My Dad pastors our Church) and he came and down to see what she needed and then came over and told me Mom had just watched a litle mouse climb up the basement stairs and then run over the the organ go up the volume pedal walk across my foot and jump off the top edge of the pedal into the organ !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! =) =) Daddy told me I could stop playing ... but I told him the little mouse is in the organ now -- and it can't get back out ... so I just went on playing!!!!!!!!!!!!! =) Thankfully Daddy set a trap and caught that little "Church mouse" ... I'd rather play the organ by myself !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! =D =) (I must say I am just SO glad he didn't decide to run UP my leg !!!!!!!)
Well, I've chatted long enough ... I'd better scoot !!!!!!!!!
Have a great day !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Jodi
