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.

Comments

LadyStyx said…
A good loud snore's a sure cure-all to cover up all types of annoying noises....
A Spot of T said…
See in one breath I want to say "awwww a widdle mouse sneeze. So cute". Then I come to my senses and think MOUSE sneeze. I'd jump too! Hope you find the culprit soon. And I find a pillow placed firmly over the snorers face will solve any further problems.
Biker Betty said…
We had mousie problems at the previous house and had to set traps. Luckily, they were in the garage and NOT in the house, sigh.
Carla said…
Oh dear. Hope you don't have to encounter any other furry little creatures.
Dear pamela. Good luck with catching the little bugger. I hate furry vermin. Unless they were purchased in a pet shop, then they are acceptable because they're not really mouses, if you know what I mean...
bichonpawz said…
I can relate. I had alot of the little critters running around. Til my new neighbor moved in. With FOUR cats! No more mice. :)

Oh, and by the way, I didn't realize you were a fibro girl too!
Jill said…
my parents have an old farmhouse and on christmas day they set 3 traps and caught about 12 mice. it's just the way of living surrounded by fields in an old house I guess. I personally saw one and thought it was terribly cute from about 10 feet away. ps they can lick peanut butter from the traps without them going off but they have to stay to nibble cheese..
Shelby said…
We have a mouse problem too. It's quite yukky and I seem to be the only one in the house to acknowledged it. I think my husband thinks if he ignores it, then it won't exist. Things that make me wanna scream. I hate mice.
Moms Musings said…
I know how you feel. Over the years I've had bouts with mice. One time I had to go from the living room to the kitchen and pass through the dining room. I took a 6 ft. piece of molding waiting to be hung and tapped it on the floor and furniture to "warn" the mouse I was coming. I didn't want to see the mouse.
Kim said…
Ewwww. Mice.
Desert Songbird said…
If you have mice that sneeze loudly enough to for you to hear, I think you should be running far, far away.
Senator said…
You are haunted by sneezing mice ghosts! Avenge the fallen comrade!! :P
Ms. Kathleen said…
One of our cats found a SHREW! I about fainted...Mice are bad enough! Yucky critters! Hugs!
Amanda said…
A mouse sneeze. hmmmm...
That's something I don't think I've ever heard!
Jan said…
We had a rat die in the attic. It took forever for the smell to go away. Some one told us about Charcoal bags, they sell them a landscape and gardening supply stores. Works like a charm.
Anonymous said…
If I knew there was a mouse in my home, I would move out. LOL!
I'm convinced that mine hide behind the furniture and laugh at me as I walk by. The traps stay empty, but I know the little buggers are there.

God, I hate mice.
Anonymous said…
Maybe it was the Ghost of Mouses Past.
Unknown said…
I get all paranoid like that once I've found one too. Luckily we've never had on in the house up here, there is one living in our garage though. :(
tlawwife said…
My daughter in law had mice so she researched them on the internet to figure out how many babies they have and how often so that she would know how many she might have in her home.
ew ew ew ew ew.

i hate rodents.

and can i say... EW.
Anonymous said…
I hear "things" late at night while I'm online, too. And my dog is too old to hear those noises with me!
Debbie said…
Ohhhhhh myyy. I can so relate to mouse issues. We used to live in a little ol' farmhouse that was infested (it seemed to me) with mice. But I can't handle dealing with dead mice in traps or the live ones that get trapped and don't die. We have some very nifty poison that come in a green block. We put it behind the fridge and dishwasher (wherever the pets can't go) and we haven't had a mouse problem since.

Good luck with your little friends, though! ;)
willowtree said…
I hate meices to pieces! plus I didn't know they could sneeze.
Gaynor said…
Ah mice.... don't you just hate them? Haven't seen one for many years. They don't seem to exist near me here in Schopfheim!
HAPPY NEW YEAR PAM
Love, Gaynor x
Betty said…
Hi Pamela,

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.
I lived in a mouse house once. This house is a different story ... KNOCK ON WOOD!
Anonymous said…
LOL I so know that feeling I can't hear anything over "the Man's" snoring either. I hate mice they freak me out!
Junebug said…
Mice "sneeze"? God forbid that mice sneeze! We had some mice fall from the attic into the wall next to our bathroom and I could hear them scratching ocassionally. Then they died! Ooh that stunk! We had to cut a small hole in the closet wall and I had to clean that mess out. Little dead dry mouse bodies! OOOOOOOOOOOOOhhhhhhhhhhhhhh......
Anonymous said…
We have (had) squirrels in our attic. Chris tells me we've gotten rid of them and sealed every possible way of getting in. But every so often, I hear a scampering up there. I stare at the ceiling, following the path I hear.
Attie said…
OOHh thats is ever so funny!!!!!!
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!!!
Anonymous said…
I!HATE!MICE!

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!
Tammy said…
Oh, loved this...
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!
Anonymous said…
We had mice in the house we owned about 7 or 8 years ago. What a smell. I had to take down the ceiling in one of the basement rooms. There were mice turds everywhere up there. I finally found the little hole they were using as an entrance. It was at at corner of the house between the basement and the house and the only way you could see it is if you looked up under the siding. Filled it in and no more mouse problem. Another way of getting rid of mice are cats. We have two cats, no mice.
Good luck on you mouse hunting.
Peter said…
IF a mouse sneezed Pamela, it would be such a tiny little sound you wouldn't even hear it... Nope , definitely a ghost!!!!
ChrisB said…
Now I have the song "Windmill in old Amsterdam" going through my mind- substitute Pamela's Cabinet Hehe
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!!
Tiggerlane said…
I had a mouse in the wastebasket near my computer one time...totally freaked me out when I heard it rustling, but a mouse sneeze sounds precious!
Christy Woolum said…
I love many things about living in Kennewick, but one thing I hated was the field mice. We lived right on the edge of an orchard and every time we burned the tumbeweeds... here they came!
Judypatooote said…
LOL....I have been so fortunate that I haven't had any little micie friends, for I live next to a field....and my neighbor has always got them....I freak when I see a bug, that is why I have a bug man.....once I had a bird come down the chimney, and was flying around in my basement....I freaked at that too, I called someone, but I can't remember who....your lucky to have a man around to protect you, even though he was in bed...snoring.....LOL.....but I must say, my dog sleeps on the floor in his bed, and he snores... and I find that comforting, but when my poor hubby was alive and he did snore really well, and I kept elbowing him in the ribs...and didn't find that a bit comforting.....hope your little micie friends leave you alone.... and I've got to get back into blogging, I've have never been as lazy as I have been since Christmas....thanks for stopping by to remind me that I wanted to come and visit you....and I see your dust is still waiting....mine is too.....Ha.....judy
M@ said…
Mice don't scare me. RATS scare me. Because they're SMART. And they make eye contact. I don't like that.
Mozi Esme said…
Yep - snores are good for some things! Great story... (And blogging is definitely work. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise.)
Anonymous said…
Loved the way you wrote the story, very engaging as good writing should be. And funny too. I can relate to the ending ;-) .
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.
carmilevy said…
This is why I love living in a really cold climate: darn things seem to be held in check by the annual winter ritual.

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!
Sabrina said…
EEEK! Last year I swore we had elephants or bears or raccoons or something in our attic. Turns out it was two rats. Such small animals make so much noise!!!
Mama Voss said…
I have mouse issues here, often. I get all stressed out and 'hear' things... I'm glad I'm not the only one!
laurie said…
you heard a mouse sneeze?

you have very good ears.
Sleepypete said…
Lol :-)

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 ...

Popular posts from this blog

Apparitions in my Garden

An Old Cold Spot

I Can Almost Smell it