EEK! We Have A Squeaker

Yup, we have a mouse! There are few things in this world that gross me out, but mice are one of the few things. You'd think that it wouldn't since I have allowed other rodents in the house like the three or four guinea pigs my girls had in 2002. But apparently we weren't meant to own rodents because they lived just long enough that the pet warranty expired. Or the last one that lasted at least three months was scared to death by our dogs the same day we moved into our new house. But that's a different story.

This little squeaker made his or herself known Thursday evening. I was sitting in the corner of my comfy sectional couch when Leonardo the cat rose from his comfy dog bed and without hesitation jumped to the floor despite the puppies being there and went after it. Only when he went after it I had no idea it was a mouse (yuck!). After a few minutes Leo returned to his nap and all seemed right and quiet again so I continued to work on my novel. But you guessed it Leo perked up again only this time he stayed put because the puppies were guarding both routes of his escape. I heard a strange clicking noise; it wasn't loud but loud enough for my keen hearing to hear it over the news. I put my notebook up and walked into the kitchen and listened and followed the noise to my stove. At first I thought I was hearing things, so I went to mute the TV's volume. Alas I wasn't hearing things. I heard that dreadful clicking in the bottom drawer of my stove. (YUCK, YUCK, YUCK!). I grabbed my cell phone and called the hubster who was picking up items from a school fundraiser and though I knew when he'd be home I still asked, "Hey, when will you be home?"

"Why?" he asked.

"Well, I think we have a mouse." I replied in a serious tone.

"So, what am I supposed to do? Find it and get rid of it."

"What?"

"Get rid of it."

"I'm not opening that drawer." I said my voice getting shaky. "You need to come home."

"You wimp. All right I'll be there in a bit."

He did come home but apparently his hearing isn't as good as mine. Even with the TV muted he couldn't hear the clicking though he was standing right next to it. He bent down and opened the drawer and slowly pulled a few cookie sheets and cake pans out. If it was gross to him he didn't show it, but validated my suspicion. We had a mouse! YUCK! The good hubster pulled the stove out but the little squeaker was gone, disappeared behind my cabinets. (Again YUCK!)

Well, now it's Saturday and the squeaker is still around and we're getting ready to set humane traps filled with yummy peanut butter. I may night like mice, but I don't want it to die, well at least not in my home.

My cat is not a mouser he's a player, so him catching it won't happen. My dogs have turned out to be useless too. Yesterday morning all three were barking their fool heads off. I left my office and peered into the living room from the stairs and all three of them were standing on the couch, a huge greyhound, then a medium beagle/basset mix and a large golden poodle mix, all fearless when going after birds or rabbits that dare enter our yard, but more afraid of the little squeaker than me. The little turd dropper was squeaking away in the middle of my living room and my big bad dogs were pulling an elephant and jumping for the safety of the couch.

I tried to trap it with a coffee can but failed, the little squeaker squeezed through a baby gate and disappeared under my stove again. Well, he's still here, but hopefully he'll be gone soon.