Creature Feature

I had a special visitor last night around 12:30am, just in time to celebrate my birthday. For the last several weeks I have been, involuntarily, sharing my kitchen with a small gray creature. Fearless in the face of "me", he would walk on the counters, play in the sink when I left a dirty dish or two and keep me up at night rummaging through everything.

I got a good look at him once. He was walking on the counter and I thought I might try and sneak up on him to see how big he was. He was a cute little thing. His face had lots of character, much like the mice you see in cartoons or movies. It took him about 10 seconds before he actually saw me, but when he did, he scurried off down into the stove through the vent. I guess its safe in there since cooking in my house has been few and far between since I met Rob (the man's a genius with food).

I was never a big fan of mouse traps. They freak me out and my humane and compassionate nature often prevents me from falsely luring unsuspecting mice to their death. My mom suggested the sticky pads. "The only thing that's rather icky about those is that the mouse may still be alive when you find him on the trap," she said. WHAT? I don’t think so.

I didn’t want to kill the thing, I just wanted to trap him and relocate him to a more suitable living environment that will benefit both of us. I laughed to myself when I thought of small condominiums stacked in some field near by. Give the guy a pool and a gym and he's set!

So here I was, sharing my house with a 2 inch furry creature with no hopes of gaining my complete independence back when Rob came to my rescue last week. He handed me a small box with a trap door. When the trap door was open, the box teetered forward. When the mouse entered, unsuspectingly to gather some bread crumbs I left inconspicuously, the box would teeter backwards and the trap door would close. Voula!

I left the trap near the garbage for a few days with no prospects until i realized, DUH I had the thing set wrong. Oh well. I then decided to put the trap directly on the counter since Mr. Fearless enjoyed his evening ventures there the most. I came home the other day to find the trap was closed. I picked it up, shook it a little and realized it was empty. When I opened it, I saw NO bread crumbs and lots of mouse poop. WHAT? He got away? I figured I was going to catch him in the act eventually, but this was somewhat ridiculous.

At this point I was on a mission and last night Mission Accomplished! So there I was, lying in bed, when I heard the rustling of the trap. I quickly got up, got dressed and grabbed the trap, holding the door shut to avoid any escaping this time around.

Since it was the middle of the night, my travel options were somewhat limited, so Mr. Fearless and I took a walk down the yard. I felt somewhat guilty because, after all, it was 20 degrees and the poor thing had become accustomed to such temperate environmental conditions in my house. BUT not guilty enough to open the trap door and watch as he scurries off. See ya! Ciao! Don't let the door hit ya in the ass on the way out.

If you're wondering what the moral of the story is I suppose it depends on your point of view. Most wouldn't think twice about killing the sucker (like my mom). Some would say I did the right thing by trapping him. And others would see the rather sarcastic humor in putting him out into the cold to meet his death anyway. Whatever people! Despite the annoyance, it's been an adventure.