Mouse Tales

Oh, how I very much wish I had pictures to accompany this story...but alas, safety, health and good sense won the day and there was nary a second to grab the camera.  Next time, though...What?  I just bit my own tongue. Hopefully there will not be a next time.

Last Wednesday Jay came upstairs from the basement with a look of "brace yourself" on his face.  "We have a little friend in the basement..." he said.  Uh oh.  "A mouse?"  Sure enough, Jay saw the itty, bitty rodent scurry into our not-used-as-a-pantry pantry.  I am totally at peace with the knowledge that in older homes, mice are very common in basements.  They do not freak me out at all...ask me about the time a rat was loose in the store I worked at in the mall...or the time I found a whole, minuscule family of mice under our dryer.  "Not a problem." I thought.  Jay set up the trap and I pretty much forgot about the little guy.

That evening, we hunkered down to watch "So You Think You Can Dance" (awesome!).  After awhile Jay hit the pause button and very calmly said "Uh, we're not the only ones watching SYTYCD, Dear."  Sure enough, little Jerry was standing there next to the couch, eyes riveted on Cat Deely (as well they should be).  Now we had a problem.  That mouse broke the code!  Never leave the basement!  Never!  Code breaker!  Rodents are not permitted to crawl on, near or around the childrens' toys potentially leaving droppings in their wake!  Sensing our awareness, Jerry darted behind the T.V. cabinet.  As Jay went to peek behind the massive piece of furniture, I stood by quietly....on the coffee table.  I had to explain that since Code Breaker Jerry could not be trusted to stay in the basement, I didn't want to be further violated by having my feet scurried over.  The rolling of Jay's eyes could be heard 'round the world.  As he sped off to get yet another trap, I bravely went to stand on the speaker next to the cabinet to peek behind.  Jay thought that after setting the trap behind the cabinet we could go back to just casually watching the rest of SYTYCD.  Uhhhhh....nope.  We can't just let Code Breaker Jerry stay here among us, he must be caught. 

Well, Jerry was none to pleased with this idea, but being that his brain is the size of a pea, he kept getting himself trapped in a corner.  Rejecting Jay's idea to "drop something heavy on him", I was ready to grab him by the tail a few times when he would impossibly squeeze himself under the cabinet.  However, again with the pea sized brain, he'd come back out a few moments later to the same spot.  Eventually, he tried to scurry across the open floor and Jay , with his ninja-like reflexes, slapped a cup over him.  (It really was super fast) What to do next, we wondered?  Leave it there for the kids to discover?  No, too much screaming.  Hope he suffocates quickly and dispose of him?  Nah, that would take too long.  So, we slid a piece of construction paper under the cup...and Jay held the door open for me as I carried the contraption outside to free the little bugger.  We're pretty sure we saw him peeking in the window to see the last few dance routines on SYTYCD.

Oh, and p.s.  Jerry had at least one friend with him, as the trap in the basement was occupied the next time we checked it.  Yuck!