An Easter Mouse
On Friday, getting a can of coffee from the pantry, I noticed crumbs on a lower shelf. That was strange, because we don’t have open jars or cereal boxes in the pantry. Even though one of the crumbs looked like a mouse dropping I paid no further attention and thought I would clean it up later.
On Saturday morning we were having breakfast at home because of the large pre-Easter brunch we would be attending with the family at noon. After breakfast I was planning to go to Trader Joe’s, five minutes from here, to get fresh flowers for Easter. When I opened the pantry I noticed many more crumbs on the shelf and an open glass jar with a few leftover cashews in it. The large cork, whatever was left of it, sat next to the jar on the shelf, the edges were rough and pieces of cork were everywhere. But the jar itself stood upright, the contents untouched. “We have a mouse in the house!” I said, and explained my findings to Mike.
“It must be a little field mouse like the one we saw darting across the hall of the main building when we arrived last May.”
“Oh,” he said, “go to Trader Joe’s and get a mouse trap.”
“A mouse trap at Trader Joe’s? They don’t sell mouse traps.”
“Of course not. I did not say that.”
“Yes, you said go to Trader Joe’s and get a mouse trap.”
“I meant go to Trader Joe’s and then get a mouse trap somewhere else.”
“All the way at The Home Depot? No way! I am going to call the front desk.”
The girl at the front desk called me back a half hour later: “Harvey is on call but he will only come out for an emergency, not for a mouse in the house. He will come over on Monday morning with a mouse trap.”
There was nothing else we could do about it. So I taped the pantry door, which has a 2″ gap at the bottom, with two strips of tape and we will hope that there is enough cork left for the mouse until Monday. Needless to say that when we hid easter eggs for the grandkids we skipped the kitchen area.
We had a lovely brunch on Saturday with four of the five family members attending plus Stephanie’s parents, and on Easter Sunday, after a beautiful church service we had Sunday brunch as usual, then took a nap and drove to the kids and grandkids for the rest of the Easter Day and Dinner. We are certainly not starving here at Waltonwood!
On Monday morning both Harvey and Joe appeared with a mouse trap. Quite a new invention to me: a 10″ x 4″ strip of thin carton: folded at the seams to resemble a large matchbox sleeve, the inside paper peeled off to expose a very sticky surface with the smell of peanut butter. The mouse would go in and get stuck – a cruel ending of its life, I think, but we can’t live with a mouse in the house either. I just hope he is still in the pantry so we can catch him. The men put down two traps and would come back on Tuesday to take them away. I’m glad I was gone all morning, starting with an early presentation at the Sunrise Rotary: at 7:00 a.m.
When the men came back yesterday afternoon and opened the pantry door, the traps were empty; they will come back again today. A service man came out and spent over an hour fixing our TV, replacing the cable box and various cables. It is working again after two days. What was really great about not having TV was that we each picked up a good book and have almost finished it today.
It’s a Wonderful Life!
Until Next Time!
Ronny
Can we send you a pack rat? Actually, they’re the Prescott menace. The good news here is that the other “trappist” neighbors have all banned together, and they seem to be significantly reduced in number. Pretty little animal: big ears, bright eyes, but she/he is amazingly destructive and particularly loves to chew wires on cars which are made of organic matter.
When I do catch a pack rat, he gets to temporarily live in our Havahart trap. Unfortunately, they don’t make these for little meese.
Thanks for your comment, Anne. I remember having a packrat when we lived in Prescott, but he was an outside rat 🙂 and he stayed away when we put some poison on the deck. I would too!
Mice are awful!cute too see but a real pest in the house! I have them and do not seem to get rid of them having no get anymore since someone is allergic. Indeed the glue is the best! All other things except cats works only one time. Sorry for the mice but it is them or me!
Thanks for your input, Finkje. We haven’t caught him yet. More on my next Blog post.