December 19, 2003
I was thinking I had mentioned the mouse story Jan inquired about. I guess not. Let me entertain.When my (brothers) house was built this summer, apparently a family of mice got built into the package (a feature perhaps?). Anyway, I moved into the house and lived there a week or two before my brother moved in. There were lots of new sounds, but I don't get scared too easy, so it wasn't a big deal. But one night, when I was up late watching a movie, I noticed a shadow moving around and heard some scratching. Then I heard some more. Mice. I sighed. It was annoying, but nothing to get worked up about. I'm a tough guy, right?So I turned on the light and watched them for a while, figuring they'd be harmless. And that they were, for the night. I went to bed not thinking about them, and saw them again the next night. Most of them were fairly small, and I decided they were likely more afraid of me and wouldn't come close. Yeah, my mistake.So I got in bed, not thinking about much. After a while, I heard what sounded like something small thunking the glass. I was in a pseudo-sleep and figured it was probably just the icemaker, or maybe a grasshopper outside that had jumped up and hit the window (which was right by my bed). I kept my eyes closed and laughed at myself a bit. But the thought of what it might be stayed in my mind, and about a minute later or so, I opened my eyes, just to make sure it was nothing. That's when a beast leaped down off the window sill, onto my pillow an inch or two away from my nose, ran across me on my blanket and leaped onto the floor.There was a second or two where I was in a denying stupor. Then I rose up in my bed very quickly, with a feeling of complete violation. I looked around, but it being pitch dark, I couldn't see anything. So I grabbed my cell phone by my bed and madly pressed volume buttons to get the dim screen light to shine down upon the carpet. I wanted to cross the room to turn on the main light, but didn't dare in the dark, figuring I'd step on a sneaky creature. Well, I managed to illuminate a mouse-free path across the room, and flipped on the light, now mad and determined to deliver swift justice. When the light came on I saw one mouse run around me out into the hall and kitchen. But I saw another run into my closet. I had a determined grin on my face, and set to work to make sure that mouse would bother me no more. Short story, I won, but it was several hours before I went to sleep, knowing there were more mice, and wondering how in the heck that mouse got up on the window sill.The next day, I spent a good $30 on various mouse exterminating equipment at Home Depot (I had to go there anyway), and using peanut butter and other creative techniques (including turning the oven upside down to dig one out of there), we managed to catch 6 mice in next 4 or 5 nights. On the last night, we (my brother had moved in at this point) sprikled flour around on the basement floor, so as to look for tracks to make sure there were no more. We didn't see any.And we've never seen once since, but sometimes, when I'm in bed and the lights go out, I'll hear a clunk from the ice maker in the kitchen, or some creak in the house, and I can't stop thinking about mice running over me. The fact is, I was violated. I might be scarred for life.
Posted by charr at 9:25 PM
Reader Comments
Nice story. When you set to work to make sure the mouse didn't bother you anymore and won, does that mean you killed it?If so, may I ask how?
Well, that particular one died a somewhat violent death there in my room. I don't want to gross others out, but he never got past the closet. Most of the others were caught in mousetraps with healthy portions of peanut butter.
I once lived in a house converted to 2 apts. My roommate was taking a bath, heard a noise and looked over at the heating vent. It was those old kind that are on the side of the wall, not the floor. Anyway, a gigantic rat was hanging there inside of it, trying to push through the square holes to get into the bathroom. My roommate (a guy) freaked out screaming and ran out of there. An exterminator came the next day and said the basement had a serious rat issue going on. We moved out within a week.
Heh. Just as I suspected, although I was kind of hoping you were going to share all the gory details.
This made me giggle, especially the parts where you felt violated. Hee. Sorry. Maybe getting a cat would make you feel safer.I can't imagine how the mouse got up on the window sill. Weird.This is why I hang a flashlight on my bedpost. When my active imagination goes into overdrive, I can just grab the flashlight for light or self-defense (without having to step on the floor and expose my feet to whatever monster my imagination had conjured).
Dan, feel free to come talk and I can share all the gory details.Jan, I hate cats (and yes, this brings up all sorts of quotes from Meet the Parents, and no I can't milk a cat). However, I'm going on 6 months sans mice, so I think I'm safe. Actually, come to think of it, I thought about getting a python or boa (used to have one), but if I let it loose to chase mice, it'd be next to impossible getting it back I think.
I would rather have mice running free in my house than a snake! Ewww.
Mice are so cute. Why didn't you get the non-lethal mouse traps and set them free in a field? They are God's little creatures, yes? To answer Jan's question: I'm guessing the mouse crawled up the curtains to get on the windowsill. I had a hamster that could do that.
Ellen, if it's any comfort, I think two of the mice were released alive.As for the windowsill, there are no curtains. All I can think is that he (or she) jumped from the floor and grabbed onto my blankets, then jumped from my bed to the window, which is a bit of a jump.
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Nice story. When you set to work to make sure the mouse didn't bother you anymore and won, does that mean you killed it?If so, may I ask how?
Posted by dan at December 20, 2003 12:21 PM