Saturday, August 21, 2010

Aak! A Mouse!

I had just arrived home from taking Josh to Target to exchange some crayons.  Just as I was stepping into the dining room, Sam spots the mouse on the floor and states, "There's a mouse on the floor!"  I happened to see it right at the same time and shrieked a little.  I don't like wild mice.  Pet ones, fine.  Wild ones that carry disease, no way.

I quickly grabbed a bowl from the kitchen and dropped it over the very-much still-alive-but-not-in-a-hurry mouse.  I grab my phone and call my husband, who was out walking with Madelynn.

"How close are you to home?"

"Not far.  Why?"

"Because there's a mouse in the house, and you need to get rid of it."

"Where is it?"

"It's in the middle of the living room, right next to the piano.  I put a bowl over it and am stepping on it to make sure it can't go any where because the bowl was moving around."

Chuckle.  "But Maddie is asleep."

"Ok, but what do I do with it."

"The easiest way would be to slide something under the bowl."

"But what do I do with it then?  I don't want it to come back.  You have to kill it."

"No, don't kill it!" interjects Mika, "Can I keep it?"

So, went the conversation.  I figured out a plan, had Mika grab one of the habitat/aquariums we have for raising tadpoles later in the year for science, and had the kids watch the bowl while I found a piece of thin cardboard.  I slid the cardboard under the bowl.  With Mika posed ready with the lid of the habitat, I dumped the mouse in it.  She slammed the lid down.

Here it is.  It was running in circles and hopping up and down trying desperately to get it.

Meanwhile, the kids all watched it.

The mouse was somewhat hurt despite all of the running around it was doing.  It was missing a patch of fur from a hind leg and had several scratches or small wounds around its head and neck.  It seemed to be getting around ok, though.

Mika still wanted to keep it.  There was no way I'd be keeping a wild mouse for a pet.  Uh, huh!  In the end, we walked it down to the park, which had an area full of trees and plenty of brush far from the playground and any houses, and let it go.

ETA: We think one of our cats caught it and brought it in.  She was nearby when we found it and was trying to get at it when it was in the bowl.  I think we just interrupted her fun.

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