Mousecapades

Dear friends, I really wonder if I should share this story with you.

You might think that my home is a tiny 3rd world country.

That we are country hicks.

That I am a neglectful housewife. Well, that part may be true.

A few nights ago I fell asleep on the couch. Actually I do this quite often. I have a hard time falling asleep and when I do I don't dare wake up, get back up, and try to go to sleep in my bed. I will lay awake all night if I do that.

While I was dosing I kept hearing noises. Little tiny rustling noises. It was precipitating outside and in my foggy brain I assumed it was that--just the sleet coming down. Suddenly I woke up with a shock, sat up, . . . . . and stared a mouse right in the face.

IT WAS RIGHT NEXT TO MY HEAD!

The thought of it even now makes me shiver. UGH!!

I leaped up with a shriek and ran to the stairs. Poor little mouse didn't know what had just happened. He ran crazily around the room, thankfully not in my direction, before he found a hiding place. I put out a trap next to the couch, ran upstairs, and snuggled with my sleepy husband.

I couldn't sleep after that. Neither could DH. I told him I wasn't getting out of bed until he found that little critter and did him in.

About an hour later I heard some thumping noises, footsteps on the stairs, and a knock at my door. It was Miss Ems. She jumped into bed with us, and said she woke up . . . . with a mouse on her bed!

Miss Em has inherited her mother's inability to sleep. She shuts her bedroom door, stuffs a towel underneath to block out the light, and has to have complete darkness and silence before she can sleep. I cannot figure out how that little mouse got in her room with that towel under the door. Maybe there were two. . . .?

As the sun came up, DH, crept downstairs on the lookout for the mouse. He was hiding pretty well by this time and was nowhere to be found. I vowed to stay upstairs until he made himself known. I was walking into the kitchen when . . . you guessed it . . . I saw the mouse running around in the kitchen.

How could he move around this house so fast? Up a flight of stairs? Through a shut door?

My heart cannot take two shocks in one day.

After hearing yet another scream, DH came up and began the hunt. The dog joined in. We finally cornered the little guy between a broom and a shoe (he was in the coat closet by this time). DH shouted for me to open the door, which I did. Out went DH in his bare feet (it was 6 outside) and accidently dropped the mouse on the porch. I slammed the door shut and DH did a little mouse jig while it ran around under his feet. By this time, the mouse had the dog's attention and . . . well, let's just say we won't have to worry about mousey anymore.

Until the next one moves in . . .