Thursday night our house will be jammed packed for a fund-raiser supporting a charity close to our hearts. And I mean jammed packed!
The food will be plentiful, wine will flow, and if everyone shows up that have RSVP'd, it will be standing room only... Which is not exactly what I'd planned. Of course when invitations were mailed, we were hopeful all would attend but the reality is our house isn't that big... And, this is a fund-raiser, on a week night, and the odds of 100% participation are usually slim to none.
Call me one lucky (or crazy) girl but I have my fingers crossed that a big turnout means a lot of much need funds will be raised.
But...one uninvited dinner guest has already arrived-- Two days early! And he (gawd, I'm praying it's a HE) is very hungry.
Bright and early Tuesday morning, my husband called me into the kitchen with a tone of voice usually reserved for big scary spiders that he wants me to deal with. I padded in still blurry-eyed, expecting to remove the creepy crawling bugger, but instead he asked if I'd recently eaten an apple-- Which I definitely had not.
Upon closer examination, I realized, based on the teeth marks, that we had a good sized mouse (please gawd, not a rat) hanging out in our kitchen.
Damn it!
Several traps smeared with peanut butter were immediately set-- Traps leftover from a mouse scare about this time last year. There were no mice then, but there is no doubt at least one mouse is definitely in our house now! (Please, please, please gawd, just one!)
But the traps in the kitchen did not work and last night as were were getting ready for bed, mouse poop greeted us on our bathroom sink. At that point I was totally creeped out and there was absolutely no way I was sleeping in our adjacent bedroom.
About the time my husband rolled his eyes at me for the third time arguing that we did not have to sleep upstairs in the guest room, the little black mouse, now fattened up by all the apples he's eaten in the last 36 hours, ran across the room and back into the bathroom. To say that got my husband's attention is an understatement.
We slammed the doors closed, ran for the traps in the kitchen, reset them in the bathroom-- now that our critter was captive, and banged around so the mouse would stay under the vanity until we were out of the bathroom. We slept peacefully in the guest room sure we'd have a fat mouse in one of the many traps in the morning.
We did not. No mouse, but all traps were snapped closed and peanut butter foot prints were everywhere.
Today my dear, fearless friend has arrived to take matters into her own hands. As I type this post, she's locked in the bedroom in search of the mouse. She's talking to the rodent in a nice sweet voice as she digs through my closet, under my sink, and through the vanity. I can hear her taking the bed linens off, and working methodically through the rooms. Every now and then she shouts her progress to me on the opposite side of the door-- Lots of poop, everywhere. I can't believe she's doing this. What a great friend.
My fingers and toes are all crossed that she's successful, at which point I will be eternally grateful and in her debt for the rest of my life. If, by chance, the fat pain in my behind has left the bedroom and moved to other parts of the house, I'm prepared with all of this...
The party is tomorrow night. If we are not successful I can just imagine-- The buffet table fulled with tri-tip sliders, grilled salmon, numerous side dishes, and the big, fat, black mouse racing from dish to dish on the buffet thinking he's hit the mother load of food, and not caring one bit about the 40+ people gasping in shock. That outta motivate people to reach for their checkbooks, don't you think?
Oh. My. Gawd! These traps better work-- Fast.
Any advice?
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Holy crap the nerve of that mouse...of all weeks! I hope you get him!
ReplyDeleteoh my....i hope that you catch your little bugger....and that the charity dinner goes off well....hope you are busting at the seams.....smiles.
ReplyDeleteWe disturbed a LARGE family of mice when putting in a deck. They fled to the kitchen and bathroom of the house. We were forced to use poison which works VERY well except for the smell of decaying bodies in the walls. This only lasts about a week beyond the death of the last, lonely mouse. Since the party is tomorrow night, the stench won't be a problem! But the day after that and day after that?! Buy some candles!
ReplyDeleteI'd be freaking out right now. Hope you snap his furry little neck SOON!
ReplyDeleteoh good luck on that, dear
ReplyDeleteAppy Aloha Wishes!
from Honolulu
Comfort Spiral
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Oh ack.. I'm sorry for you and your uninvited guest. I know you're anxious to rid your home of the wee beastie and I hope you do. The quick kill traps are the most humane. Other than the live traps, of course. But that Hold-fast.. if it's a glue tray, is a slow and agonizing death for the critter, as is poison. That's the only advice I have.. which really kind of favours the mouse, I suppose. :-]
ReplyDeleteBest of luck to you on your charity get together. I hope you reap plenty.
Thanks for stopping by to let me know that you were holding another fine giveaway. I quite like the ornament with the blue in it.
Joanna, the only way to get rid of rats, mice is to find the source, ie, how they are getting into the house. And then seal the hole somehow. We googled this info once when a relative had a problem and it worked! You can find the source as there is usually a trail of mouse droppings nearby. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteThe party will be awesome! (I don't think the mouse will make an appearance, they'll stay away from humans, I think)
ReplyDeleteYeesh! Hope that mouse is gone by now! Have a great time at the party and raise lots of money!
ReplyDeleteI hope your little critter doesn't turn out to be the life of the party. We had a mouse (or two) at my office a couple of years ago and during a lunch meeting for clients the exterminator walked in and loudly announced that he was there to take care of the mice problem.....lots of leftovers from that lunch. :)
ReplyDeleteI tried several kinds of trap for a clever mouse and he managed to get the bait and escape form each one. I finally went to an old fashioned hardware store to get one of those wooden traps with the plan wire snap (NOT the ones with the plastic yellow cheese-looking spring) Baited with pb and set parallel to the wall along the baseboard where mice typically run - worked like a charm the first night.
ReplyDeleteOh dear, you have one nervy mouse on your hands. Good luck with that. Makes life interesting, no?
ReplyDeleteNo advice, you're doing everything I would do. Can you borrow someone's cat?
ReplyDeleteClosing doors is kind of pointless, though. Did you know that if you can roll a pencil under it, a mouse and even a RAT can get through it? I used to work in a building that often had wood rats and I got a lot of learning from Gary the pest control guy.
oh good lord, why do these things always happen at a time that is very inconvenient. didn't that mouse get the memo. i hate mice so as i read this my heart went out to you JJ, they are just dirty and ugly little creatures. my hubs can tell you that the one time we had mice in the house i kinda lost it and we weren't having a party even. i hope he's caught and your party is a huge sucess. big hugs my friend!!
ReplyDeleteFingers crossed! I don't mind mice, but rats are another thing!
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your party!
That is one smart mouse - probably laid-off from Disney.
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness - awful, but really funny! I loved reading your post. (And yes, I've been missing for a bit. :-))
ReplyDeleteTime adopt a cat until the party is over. I don't handle rats or mice very well. I think I'd be standing on the table if one made the appearance. Hoping Mickey stays out of sight during your fundraiser and you raise plenty of funds! Is this a Lupus fundraiser? Wishing it a big success!!!
ReplyDeleteYou need my mom....she is a great trapper. Gets them every time.
ReplyDeleteGood luck
Hugs
SueAnn
Oh, dear! I can totally relate - have had a couple of mouse events in my house. Hope you catch him soon.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Hilary, though - the glue traps are horrid.... the little mousie will scream and cry (seriously!).
Good luck with your fundraiser event - hope the mouse doesn't make an appearance!
Darn! Showing up just in time for the party. I think Lisa is right, they stay away from humans, and he is unlikely to be hanging out in plain sight, don't you think?
ReplyDeleteTime for a cat. Or as Secret Agent Woman said, a trap that is sure to work!
I knew I smelled a party! Joanna, the very odd thing is that we had a rat in our garage this past weekend that somehow couldn't get out (have no idea how it got in) and chewed a hole through the dry wall through the siding on the house. It was so loud we heard it upstairs in four rooms and could not find out what was going on until the next morning where we found a pile, and I mean a big pile of dry wall CHUNKS under a cabinet with the light coming in from outside. We also found he (had to be, right?) tried another escape route and cut a perfect rectangle from a screen that was resting against a ventilation grate. He also cut through the mesh that was blocking the grate but couldn't go through the grate metal itself. This has totally freaked me out. In 22 years here we have never had such a thing happen. I'm wondering if an EQ is eminent with animals acting strangely and showing up where they shouldn't be.
ReplyDeleteAnyway, have a great party. I'm sure your uninvited guest has left the building. Good luck with the fund raising. The organization is very fortunate to have a passionate host. :)
The adopt a cat advice is very good, as is the humane traps. Plugging up the source will not work if the bugger is camping inside.
ReplyDeleteWe get mice every year. I've always had success with a humane trap shaped like a little box with a flap door. Walmart @2 bucks. Peanut butter gets smeared on the inside end, mouse goes in, flap door cannot be opened from the inside. Where you decide to pack him off to can be a delicate matter. I drop mine off across town at the gun club.
We had a mouse but caught it right away! All that poop could mean a family! Maybe it's tie to adopt or borrow a cat.
ReplyDeleteOh my word! I would have a hard time with that, too. You have one incredible friend. Fortunately, we have cats so mice... steer clear ;)
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your fundraiser!
We've got mice. And rats. Of the two... I'll take mice!!!!
ReplyDeleteOh my dear goodness! I'd be horrified. Hope the invader is caught before your party. If not, I guess you will give us a full blown description in your humorous style. :) All the best on your fundraiser!
ReplyDeleteomg, you just made me laugh. i'm sorry, i shouldn't be laughing, but sometimes mouse stories are....well, funny :)
ReplyDeletei personally would recommend the sticky traps, as this sounds like either lotos of mice or a very smart one....
good luck !!!
I've found that the humane traps work very well to catch a mouse. Since they have to enter the trap to get the treat, they almost always work.
ReplyDeleteIf he shows up at the festivities, just tell your guests he's being auctioned off to raise funds. Maybe one of them will pay you to take him away :-)
You need to put a spread for the mouse on the opposite side of the house with sleeping pills ground into the food so the mouse will fill up and sleep during the party. Ha.
ReplyDeleteI know this is no laughing matter and I hope the party was a huge success.
This must be a bad year for mice infestation, b/c everyone around here is talking about the mice in their basements, garages, cars, wherever. We had some success with traps and peanut butter. Got about half a dozen of the little squeakers. Then we got rid of any possible food source -- like the extra dog food we were storing in the basement and the bags of popcorn. Then we threw down some mothballs in the garage. And now we're just keeping our fingers crossed. Good luck with your party!
ReplyDeleteOh, I'm sorry about the mice. We had a horrid problem earlier this year. I lost my nut. Finally it got under control when my landlord patched up all sorts of holes they were coming in through, but one got stuck in the house and couldn't figure out how to leave. I was terrified and would leave the front and back door open for it.
ReplyDeleteSounds like you should put some bread covered with jelly all over the place wih the traps and your friend will make some quick work of finishing up some PB&J sandwich appetizers Lol ...All the best JJ ~ Edward
ReplyDeleteHope you catch your uninvited guest.;) We have many mice in our garage, they are actually very cute.;) Have none in the house, Sammy sees to it - so my advice would be - get a cat.;))
ReplyDeletehave a great week ahead,
xoxo
Oh dear! I have never had mice... except for pets!
ReplyDeleteallisontb [at] gmail [dot] com
It was soooo great to receive your email sweetie. Thank you!!!
ReplyDeleteAs you know life has totally sucked all my time and energy away but hopefully soon and very soon....'just sayin'!
We all know one can never have too many ornaments and these are simply breathtakingly beautiful. What a talent and a worthy cause too!
God bless ya my friend and enjoy this wonderful season of our Lord!
Mice...it can be war...tricky little boogers!
I really hope your party went well. And I really really hope your little black mouse doesn't have any friends. :)
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Casey
There is a post on my blog about your giveaway. I had the left eye surgery done today, am so glad to have it done. Hugs.
ReplyDeleteA health-conscious mouse i should say. lol
ReplyDeleteDenver psychologist
Oh my gosh!!! So what happened? Did you ever get the mouse. I would think it would be hopeless to shut a door on them in any room because aren't they capable of squeezing through the nano-sized seams between the floorboards and such?
ReplyDelete