Late last night, I realized I'd left a pot of sauteed kale on the stove waiting to cool. So I got out of bed, went downstairs, and surprised a little mouse who scampered over the stove and disappeared.
That little fucker turned out to be hiding in the corner of the counter -- I could see his silhouette, and when I poked at him to confirm I wasn't imagining it, he ducked behind my jar of spoons. I could see his verminous little tail sticking out.
By this time the enraged yelling had roused tallasiandude as well, and he came down to see what was going on. I wasn't letting that little critter out of my sight, but I was too tired to also think up a way to catch him and get rid of him. But tallasiandude had the presence of mind to grab a little trap, box him in, and catch him... and then throw the rotten little marauder outside.
There were tiny little mousepoops on my stove. EEEEEEEWWWW. And I decided I couldn't be sure the pot of kale was unscathed, so that had to go too. Hateful little bastards, mice. Yuck.
Posted by foodnerd at August 20, 2008 08:52 AMHateful little bastards is right.
We routinely saw mice for the first seven years we lived in this house. We trapped them like crazy. I think one day I caught 5 mice with one trap in about 90 minutes. Their population would ebb and flow, but it would never take long for a clean cupboard to accrue a scattering of mouse waste.
Finally, our next door neighbor got a very friendly cat who started visiting us once in a while. I have seen neither mouse nor mouse-trace since the first day Cosmos walked through our door about a year ago. Since I'm allergic, I'd resisted the whole cat thing. But a little sneezing and snuffling once in a while (she only visits once a week or so) is a small price to pay for a rodent-free existence, you ask me.
Posted by: Chris at August 20, 2008 10:34 AMdude, we HAVE a cat. (see above, actually) it's just that he's elderly, slightly senile, moderately deaf, and a little bit lazy. these mice are not frightened. it's a good thing kitty is freaking adorable, because he's useless as a hunter.
:(
Posted by: foodnerd at August 20, 2008 08:25 PM