I have a darling little kitchen, but it doesn't have much storage space. So in an effort to use every corner, I keep my hot pads and kitchen towels in that lower oven drawer. Thus it was that at 11:00 at night a couple months ago, I entered a very dark kitchen and opened that drawer to put some neatly folded towels in. Sam and I were just finishing up our 'date night,' which typically involves a movie and laundry folding, and I wanted to get everything put away.
As I opened the drawer I saw something move. Suddenly a brown mouse scurried over my towels and ran to the back of the drawer! I just about died of a heart attack. I screamed for Sam, and he ran over to formulate a plan of attack. "Maybe we could pick up the drawer and carry it outside, then dump it!" I suggested. "Well, you'll have to get dressed to do that," he quickly replied. Sam stood watch while I threw a robe over my undergarments, pulled my hair back (wouldn't want a mouse to get caught in it!), and slipped on combat boots. I grabbed us two brooms, cocked mine up like a bat, and hesitated. Man I looked awesome.
Suddenly the mouse ran out from the side of the oven (he must have climbed over the back of the drawer), across the kitchen, and in a small hole under the cupboard beneath the sink. And Sam and I? We froze up. We just watched it run across. But how were we supposed to kill it?! It's MAMMAL! It has lungs and hair and blood! I can kill invertebrates, but not mammals! AHHH!
I checked the drawer, found droppings over everything, and threw it all in the washer with a truck-load of bleach. After disinfecting the drawer, we hit the sack. What else could we do? For the next couple days doing the dishes required several "jump around in panic" routines as I felt imaginary swipes against my feet. Three days later, after dismantling the frame under the cupboard and setting up several traps, we caught our mouse. Sucka.
That same day I found a 10" diameter air intake vent with no cover. NO COVER! What were they thinking?! Well that would explain the four dead mice our repair guy found in the unfinished basement ceiling insulation before we moved in. And the dead mouse we found in a trap under one of the cupboards. And the small metal scratching sounds Sam heard two weeks before our current mouse incident.
We've now covered the vent, and we're 100% certain we are completely mouse free. But that should explain why I'm keeping those snakes around. Not sure which I dislike more: snakes outside the house, or mice inside. Here's hoping heaven has neither.
18 comments:
"Well, you'll have to get dressed to do that,"- WHY WERE YOU WEARING NO CLOTHES:) I think next time this happens, you should have Sam take a picture of you in the robe outfit
Could you have Sam just draw up a picture of what you looked like?!!! I'm assuming you didn't take a picture. I don't like any kind of pests, especially the ones that multiply like mice.
Tell me about it, those mice. We have a brand new house and yet somehow, someway, we managed to catch at least a dozen of them in the garage. Why are there holes in a brand new house?! And I feel bad because they're gross and annoying but they're so dang cute I can't stand to look at them when they are stuck in our traps... ack.
I think I'd rather take the snakes. . . .
I love how so many of your funny entries have something to do with how crazy you look at the time!
Mice are disgusting. Good job finding where they came from!
Yikes! There were always mice at my parents house when we lived there. Totally gross! I'm just glad that I have no basement and a cement slab foundation.
I hope the rodents are totally gone now! Those little noises can be very disturbing. I bet they liked that warm cozy nest under the oven though!
Caroline - I was wearing my garments you stinker! I knew you were gonna take it that way!
Karen - I thought the same thing! I'm trying to get Sam to do a storyboard of it or something. So hilarious!
After reading this entry, I spent all morning freaking out thinking I saw a mouse. I was afraid to cook in my kitchen for fear a mouse would run across. Thanks, Janae. :)
Oh man, that's funny! We've never had mice but we do have the two most vile creatures on planet Earth: Roaches and Scorpions. There is nothing worse than finding a live scorpion crawling inside your home. NOTHING!
Great story! Glad you got the little vermin.
SICK! That is all I can say! :)
Jenna - I'm trying to decide which I'd hate worse, scorpions or roaches. I don't have any particular dislike for scorpions, and I loathe hate and revile roaches, but seeing a scorpion inside my HOME just might tip my scale! Scary!
Yikes! Glad you figured out the point of entry.
One minor detail excluded: vacuuming out the area underneath the sink with a vacuum. We need some more details there. :)
Oh creepy, creepy, creepy! I don't mind pet mice behind a glass cage. But not one in my house! Ick!
Eww, mice! Our first mouse incident was rather dramatic as well. The trap caught the mouse's arm, leaving it alive. I told James to whack it with a hammer and kill it but he was afraid. He wanted to put it under a bucket to suffocate it but ended up whacking it with a snow shovel. Dead. We've had a few mice since then. Eww.
I'm glad the no vent cover was one of the worst things you've found. I was watching Holmes Inspection last night with Jason. This expert guy comes in after people have just bought a house and finds what the home inspector didn't (or didn't disclose finding). It's always so sad, these poor people who just bought the house. They had to tear out the entire basement (floor included) rewire everything, re-plumb, completely remove and reconstruct their porch...what a sad, sad thing.
By the way, I bet you really DID look awesome in your robe get-up. I want to see the story board after Sam does it. He is doing one, right? Too funny not to. :D
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