Rodents and the Rabble

Well… I have two episodes to report today. I know you can hardly wait!

On Sunday morning I was standing at the kitchen sink and I felt a little something on my foot, moving toward my ankle. I’m used to my children climbing my legs to at first I found nothing disturbing about this. Until the sensation began to move up my leg and I felt little scratchies. (“My goodness, Maggie!” I thought to myself, “why don’t you tell your mother to cut your fingernails!”) I looked down and discovered, to my amazement, a mouse industriously climbing the trunk of my leg.

I imagine you can hear my “EeeeK!” even with the many miles of distance separating us! I flung my leg away from my body, resulting in Mortimer flying at a good velocity to impact with the dishwasher, sliding down the dishwasher and disappearing underneath. Isaiah came running, though, unlike his heroism last year when he captured and killed a shrew in the pitch black of our room, he was unable to locate Mortimer to bring him to his demise. Sad day. We vowed to go get traps.

Well, the traps didn’t happen because… frankly, we just have been boycotting stores and so I hadn’t gotten to Wal-Mart yet. Fast forward to yesterday morning.

I was again in the danger zone of the house, standing at the sink, washing dishes. I see Mortimer exit the dishwasher and scurry over to the oven. Then to the corner of the kitchen where I have the high chair set up ( that’s the gravy boat for a rodent, thanks to the offerings of a 2-year-old and a 1-year old!). I decided that Mortimer was moving slowly enough to attempt a capture. I hollered for Isaiah and went in.

Well, the end of the story involved another mad dash across the house for Mortimer but eventually he was trapped underneath a broom and I was sent off to the garage to get the gloves. Then, gloves on and Mortimer in hand, we had show and tell with the girls.

“Oh, a itty-bitty mouse!” cried Mia in a delicate, even higher-pitched voice than usual. “He’s so cute!”

“Honey, he’s really small… is there any way we can keep him as a pet? I just can’t imagine killing him now that I’ve looked him in the eye!” implored yours truly.

“NO. HE WILL NOT STAY IN THIS HOUSE,” stated the authority figure in possession of the mouse.

Diplomatic negotiations ensued with the final outcome being a launch across the backyard and over the fence into the empty lot next to the street. We are fairly certain Mortimer will be back. Although he was moving slowly enough that perhaps he will meet his untimely end through means other than our hands.

And…. I’m happy to report that we were finally able to celebrate Maggie’s birthday last night. We had to cancel our original fiesta because all of us – except Maggie – were full of sickness. Though it was exceptionally low-key, we were able to satisfy Mia’s requirements of party hats, cake and candles. Good times!