Sunday, December 7, 2008

VICTORY!


You may recall hearing about last year's rodent issues. It involved a rent-a-cat and the back seat of my car turning into a litter box...

Apparently, the smartest mice in Tucson flock to our house. Every morsel I ever put in a trap disappeared, yet, the only thing we ever caught was Cooper. I don't recommend those sticky traps...

Anyway, Friday night Ib and I were watching movies. I thought I saw something move out of the corner of my eye. Of course, when I looked, there was nothing. Two or three times I caught a glimpse of something before I finally got a full-on view of a mouse running from under my computer desk to behind the TV. I let out a hoot and Ib thought I'd lost my mind. I got up and set a trap right in its path and went back to the movie.

Before long, we had both dozed off. I woke up to a scratching sound. I thought it was the blinds, but once I opened my eyes I nearly jumped out of my skin. That mouse had climbed up the potted palm tree in the corner of the living room. It was just sitting on the branch like it owned the place. I screamed for Ib to wake up, because I knew no one would believe me without a witness. We've got circus mice.

It jumped out of the tree and went back into hiding. Ib went to bed and I waited up trying to get a picture of it in the tree again. Finally, I admitted defeat and called it a night.

Morning brought another empty trap. No sign of the little guy all day. Until we sat down to another evening of movies. I saw it run behind the TV again. At that point, Ib suggested we catch it. Since it was too smart for the traps, and we knew right where it was hiding, we'd just catch it and put it outside.


So I positioned myself on one side of the TV with a baseball bat, while Ib and Cooper staked out the otherside with a box and flashlight. I banged on the TV stand and that little rat streaked across the living room. Now it was hiding under the rock cabinet. So Ib set up barricades and we tried to flush it out of that hiding spot.

I screamed like a girl and back across the living room it went. This time, he went straight out across the floor...no hugging the walls. He knew we were right on his tail. Cooper finally spotted and darted after him. But when he got to the middle of the living room, there was no sign of the mouse, and he spun around chasing his tail trying to figure out where it had gone. If only we'd had the video camera set up...

We thought he'd gone under the couch, so Ib lifted that up, dumping a sleeping Vinnie onto the floor in the process. No mouse. We checked behind the bookshelf on the other side of the room. Bingo! The mouse ran towards the front door then, only inches away from freedom, turned around and went back behind the bookshelf. Cooper was furiously digging at the carpet.

One more shake of the shelf and he took off running again. This time, he ran along the windows behind the couch and stopped for a breather behind the blinds. That was his fatal mistake. I shrieked for Cooper and pointed out the furry scoundrel.

With all his laser-pointer training, Cooper sprung on the mouse with cat-like reflexes and the chase was over.


I had to hold him to keep him from eating the thing. It was pretty gross. Then Ib gave it a good whack with the baseball bat to make sure it wasn't just "playing dead". Then he flushed it down the toilet...


So far, we haven't seen any more mice. Let's hope they finally got the idea!

YAY COOPER!



1 comment:

Nini said...

Seriously, so funny! You make me laugh out loud! I can't believe you flushed it down the toilet. I hope it doesn't clog!! Speaking of mouse hunt...this morning, Littles came home with a mouse in his mouth. He likes to keep them alive so he can play with them for a while. Analise thought it was, "SO NICE!" that Littles liked to play with mice! Ha ha!