Thursday, November 5, 2009

In the House, Mouse? Part II

Remember this?

Well things have progressed quite a bit in the mouse department since then. I sent an email to Jeff about it and he insisted I share with y'all. So here.

No one came to wake me up this morning (Sailor jumped up to my bedroom
window to sniff once or twice, but no socializing other than a quick
knead) and no one came to investigate when I got up to go to the
bathroom. I went on a cat hunt and found Sailor hiding behind the sheer
curtain near the litter box behind the recliner. He looked very excited
(shh! I'm hiding!)

Got my breakfast ready and I had just grabbed two cans of cat food and a
spoon, when Sailor came running in from the porch with a mouse in his
mouth. He ran here and there in random fashion (where do I go what do I
do?!?) with Sissy close behind while I ran around closing doors (porch,
kitchen, bedroom) so that he could not escape to a dark, inaccessible
corner.

I grabbed a garbage can lid I GOT him by the arm chair. He dropped the
mouse and I put the lid over it. I picked Sailor up and scrunched him -
he was SO proud of himself - and told him what a good boy he is. And I
gave him and Sissy breakfast at their dishes. He took two bites and
then had to go back and investigate the garbage can lid, but finally I
was able to lock them in with their breakfast while I ate my breakfast
standing up in the kitchen and thought about how to get this mouse out
of the house.

Unlike our other recent rodential visitors, this one was very lively. I
could hear it squeaking from under the lid and every once in a while he
stuck his tail out. I didn't trust my good old glass jar method here.
Usually I'm able to lift the lid, clamp down over the weakened/dying
mouse with a glass jar and then slide a little piece of cardboard under
the jar to spirit the poor little guy up and away. This method won't
work with a very lively mouse. The other problem was that the garbage
can lid was so big that I had nothing big or flat enough to slide under
it (I don't have a cookie sheet and my art supplies were locked up with
the cats and I wasn't going there.) Finally, after I was well fed, I
took an old pizza box lid (thank heaven I hadn't been to the dump yet)
and slid it under the mouse's galvanized prison (after propping the back
door open to the outside and moving the whole caboodle right up to the
door jam.)

I managed to shimmy the cardboard under the lid and then I FLUNG it
toward the outside. Poor mouse landed on some leaves on my wooden deck
and sat there, stunned. I stepped outside, closed the screen door
behind me and used the pizza box to (gently) sweep mouse onto the
garbage can lid so that I could transport him to his new home in the
leaf pile that has been accumulating under the fallen ceiling inside the
barn. Hope he's ok.

11 comments:

Unknown said...

Wow! That was interesting... I'm curious now. What was Part I? Gerry D.

Lynne said...

Hi Gerry-
How are you? Thanks for staying in touch (I just sent a card to Aunt Marguerite.)
Here's the link to Part One: http://morningglorybuttercup.blogspot.com/2008/09/in-house-mouse.html
:)

Uncle Fred said...

Ha Ha as long as they stay in the ceiling who cares
Have a good trip and enjoy your birthday party when it arrives

Lynne said...

Hi Uncle Fred--thanks for the good mouse advice!

Victoria said...

You are so much kinder than I am... mice don't stand a chance around me if they are leaving their tell-tale signs in the house. BUT, I think I've just successfully plugged the last hole where they've been entering so maybe now they will stay outside where they belong. (BTW, I've read several of your entries today... enjoyed them all and think I've spent about an hour following links and checking in with hamster videos and the like. Chore avoidance!)

Lynne said...

Hi Vicki!
I'm so glad you chose to do some "chore avoidance" in my little world. I am at the moment practicing some "packing avoidance" with a little Grey's Anatomy. If I'm a good little girl and I manage to fill my duffel bag, I'll treat myself to PROJECT RUNWAY. Talk about guilty pleasures. Off to Boston tomorrow!

Lynne said...

Oops! Hi Victoria! I thought you were my friend Vicki. But the same sentiments still apply. Glad you stopped by!

B.P said...

Smooth move Auntie Lynne on the mix up(no offense:0)

Lynne said...

B.P Ha Ha!

b.p said...

123 LOL

Lynne said...

456 ;0)