In article >,
Kathleen > wrote:
> I ventured down the hall and found one of the biggest mice I've ever
> seen with its front leg caught in one of the Black Cat mouse traps in
> the pantry. The clanking I'd heard was the mouse dragging the damned
> trap around.
'swhatcha get for tryin' to mess with Mighty Mouse. I'm tellin' PETA.
>
> While I was pondering what to do about the not-mortally-wounded rodent
> another mouse ran over my foot and climbed the shelves on the inside of
> the pantry door.
>
> I admit it. I screamed. Not long, and not loud, and most of the noise
> came out through my nose when I clamped my hand over my mouth. Even so,
> it woke my 13 year-old son, who came on the run to see what the
> excitement was about. I pointed out the mouse on the spice rack and he
> ran to get his airsoft BB gun.
>
> Meanwhile, the JRT has fled the scene and is peeking around the corner,
> waiting for something to go SNAP, the male BC is looking for a reason to
> bite the JRT, and the female border collie is conducting a short-range
> olfactory inspection of the trapped rodent. She's got her nose pressed
> right up against the thing and is making noises like she's trying to
> snort him like a line of colombian flake.
>
> Dear son arrives with the BB gun and squeezes off a shot that knocks the
> mouse off the shelf and sends it running for shelter on the floor. A
> second shot ricochets off a bottle of vietnamese cinnamon and stings me
> on the leg. The JRT's prey drive is finally triggered and he launches
> himself at the mouse, and the male BC, in full-on fun police mode,
> lunges at the terrier.
>
> In the confusion, that mouse escapes unscathed while I'm breaking up the
> dog fight. Meanwhile, the female BC has picked up the trap and the
> trapped mouse and is heading down the hall to my bedroom to conduct her
> experiments in private.
>
> I catch up with her before she makes it onto the bed and I confiscate
> trap and the still live rodent.
>
> So now what? How am I supposed to kill this thing? I try dropping him,
> trap and all, in the toilet to try to drown him but he's a big mouse and
> only pinned by one leg so he's able to tread water and keep his nose
> above the surface. So I find a tall pitcher, fill it with water and
> drop him in there. Better. He's submerged. I set the pitcher on the
> floor, and, unwilling to watch him drown, I retreat to the kitchen.
>
> Minutes later, to my absolute horror, I hear sloshing and splashing. I
> slink down the hall, afraid I've wandered into some sort of Twilight
> Zone experience only to find the female BC, carrying the trap and by now
> thoroughly drowned rodent, on her way down the hall to the bedroom.
> When I insist, she relinquishes her prize and I carry it back to the
> bathroom where she watches as I open the trap and dump the dead mouse
> into the toilet. Surf's up, little dude.
OMAlex!! I have to explain to my husband why I'm laughing so damned
hard! You have a way with words, Kathleen. I salute you.
--
-Barb, Mother Superior, HOSSSPoJ
http://web.mac.com/barbschaller, and here's the link to my appearance
on "A Prairie Home Companion," <
http://prairiehome.publicradio.org/
programs/2008/08/30/>