Hearing Things
The mouse business began last month when a bad aroma began to annoy me. I nervously checked the compost crock and the garbage can and even peeked in the oven to see if a piece of meat had been left to die there.
My nose finally led me under the sink to a forgotten mouse trap.
Sure enough, there was a little furry creature ripening under the hot water pipe. Gag me.
The snare and its little feast of long dried up peanut butter had been prepared several month previous; set by WR in response to my reminders (nagging) that we needed to be prepared for the winter mouse invasion. I'd left the primed trap alone, acknowledging each time I noticed it with careful avoidance.
After our catch, we were once again aware that the field mice had found shelter under the house. And, that at least one had squeezed through the small opening around the kitchen pipes into the warm cabinet under the sink.
WR set another trap with fresh peanut butter.
Now I am paranoid.
I keep hearing things: Paper rustling? Little claws clicking? Something jumping from the garbage can?
"Did you hear that dear?" I demand his affirmation even though I put a question mark on it here.
"I didn't hear anything," says he and goes on about his business.
(He does have some hearing loss so I give him the benefit of the doubt.)
That dialogue has repeated many times in the evenings over the past few weeks, followed by me running into the kitchen.
Garbage can. Check.
Bottom drawer. Check.
Under stove. Check.
"I know you're there, you little rat!" I yell into the kitchen sink.
Last night was the final straw.
WR hit the hay and I stayed up to finish some computer work. (Shush. Blogging is so my computer work.)
I was just about ready to power down when I heard it.
"Ah Chooo!"
A SNEEZE!
Somewhere near the computer.
I hopped up and checked behind the chair and the couch. I looked under the coffee table. I peered into my empty shoes.
"This is driving me craaaaaaaaaaazy." I screamed, but only in my head. Truth is I was a tad bit freaked!
I couldn't take it anymore and headed down the hallway to the bedroom. In there, I could guarantee myself that I wouldn't be hearing things.
Nope. Can't hear anything over WR's snore.
My nose finally led me under the sink to a forgotten mouse trap.
Sure enough, there was a little furry creature ripening under the hot water pipe. Gag me.
The snare and its little feast of long dried up peanut butter had been prepared several month previous; set by WR in response to my reminders (nagging) that we needed to be prepared for the winter mouse invasion. I'd left the primed trap alone, acknowledging each time I noticed it with careful avoidance.
After our catch, we were once again aware that the field mice had found shelter under the house. And, that at least one had squeezed through the small opening around the kitchen pipes into the warm cabinet under the sink.
WR set another trap with fresh peanut butter.
Now I am paranoid.
I keep hearing things: Paper rustling? Little claws clicking? Something jumping from the garbage can?
"Did you hear that dear?" I demand his affirmation even though I put a question mark on it here.
"I didn't hear anything," says he and goes on about his business.
(He does have some hearing loss so I give him the benefit of the doubt.)
That dialogue has repeated many times in the evenings over the past few weeks, followed by me running into the kitchen.
Garbage can. Check.
Bottom drawer. Check.
Under stove. Check.
"I know you're there, you little rat!" I yell into the kitchen sink.
Last night was the final straw.
WR hit the hay and I stayed up to finish some computer work. (Shush. Blogging is so my computer work.)
I was just about ready to power down when I heard it.
"Ah Chooo!"
A SNEEZE!
Somewhere near the computer.
I hopped up and checked behind the chair and the couch. I looked under the coffee table. I peered into my empty shoes.
"This is driving me craaaaaaaaaaazy." I screamed, but only in my head. Truth is I was a tad bit freaked!
I couldn't take it anymore and headed down the hallway to the bedroom. In there, I could guarantee myself that I wouldn't be hearing things.
Nope. Can't hear anything over WR's snore.
Comments
Oh, and by the way, I didn't realize you were a fibro girl too!
That's something I don't think I've ever heard!
God, I hate mice.
i hate rodents.
and can i say... EW.
Good luck with your little friends, though! ;)
HAPPY NEW YEAR PAM
Love, Gaynor x
Sounds like you may be afraid of mice and maybe that's why you keep thinking you are hearing one or two or three.
At any rate, cute writing. I enjoyed reading it.
Have a good week.
a little mouse sneeze!!! We have a neighbor who's house got infested(as she called it) with chipmunks!!! imagine having to try to get rid of those cute little things!!!
I ussally buy those mouse houses...that way you don't see them when they pass away!!! or smell them...but knock on wood we haven't had a mousy problem for years!!!
After having an invasion a while back (I think you read those posts), we haven't had any in a while. I never heard any sneezes, but if I did? NO MERCY!
Maybe our new kitten is "taking care" of 'em. Hmmmm....
I'm afraid if you spent the night with me, it'd be MY snoring that covered up any rodent noises. Sometimes I wake up myself!
Especially since we had a mice-rat problem this past year and it was driving me bananas...
I kept hearing them in the walls and we were so close to spending a lot of $ on a prof. exterminator...but ever since Christmastime, they've disappeared....and I'm so hoping for good!
Good luck on you mouse hunting.
Chorus:
I saw a mouse!
Where? PAMELA'S
There on the stair! Cabinet
Where on the stair?
Right there!
A little mouse with clogs on
Well I declare!
Going clip-clippety-clop on the stair AND SNEEZING
Oh yeah
Hope you don't end up like the song -no one living there but a load of mice!!
My sister was so afraid of mice as a child and teen. My parents ended up with mice in the house. One night she was sleeping and she awoke to a mouse sitting on her pillow right in front of her eyes, looking at her sleep. She freaked, got up and took a blanket and slept sitting rolled up in the blanket on two kitchen chairs (metal legs) for the rest of the night.
My mom got two cats; she says they are easier to train than mice.
I have vivid memories of a mouse tearing through our hallway closet, and our neighbor - a big, burly man who drove trucks for a living - rescuing us by grabbing a broom, running across the street and nailing the sucker right behind my mother's boots.
Classic moment...remember it like yesterday!
you have very good ears.
I hate to say it but ... that could have been me you heard sneeze. It really is that loud. Or so the person on the office floor below told me once.
Great story :-) Hope you haven't had too many other sleepless nights lately due to hearing the mice ...