eek! a mouse!

Mice, mice everywhere.

About a month ago, we discovered we had mice in our garage. Well, at the time we assumed it was just one. Then two weeks back, Andy and I journeyed into the garage on an expedition to enslave the mouse and rid ourselves of it. After clearing out a lot of items in the garage and clogging up some of the holes it could use to escape, we scared it out of its corner only to find out there were two mice. It turns out we did a bad job at clogging, because the first mouse got away, but not easily. The second one ran into a corner and we devised a plan: get pieces of wood and make a "path" that it will take straight into a cardboard box that we will close shut as soon as it runs in. Think of it as a really easy wooden maze that leads you straight into captivity.

It actually took a few attempts for our clever little plan to work. We kept accidentally leaving little gaps in our path where the mouse would escape through to other parts of the garage. Each time, we scared it back into the same corner and reconstructed our path. Eventually, after probably three attempts, we finally got it into the box. After taping it shut and cleaning up the garage, we drove about a half mile from the house and let it out by railroad tracks. Will it return? It's hard to say, but we assumed it was too far. Neither of us had the necessary manhood to kill it.

Fast-forward to last Wednesday after work, where I was letting Maverick out to take care of business. After a few minutes, he started acting really strangely and I realized almost immediately that he must have found a mouse. Is it the one who originally escaped, or the one we let go far away that had returned? Even worse, could it possibly be neither and be a third mouse instead? I stopped worrying about it and instead enjoyed the dog-and-mouse game that they were playing around the patio. A few times Maverick would lose the mouse, thinking it was still behind some potting soil when in fact it had run to a different spot altogether. My height compared to Maverick's served as a definite advantage, as I was able to survey the playing field a lot easier than him. When he would lose the mouse, I tried to hint to him that it was over somewhere else instead. Of course, he was too stupid to pay attention to me or listen, so I just picked him up and placed him by where the mouse now was. This went on for about 20 minutes until me, Maverick, and Andy who had eventually joined us all lost the mouse. I went back inside for a brief moment and came back outside to find that Maverick found the mouse again in the middle of the yard, and he finally grabbed it with his mouth. At this point it was all but over for the mouse. Maverick made an interesting, yet slightly twisted game out of the next 20 minutes. He would let the mouse go, paw at it some, and then lie down next to it. It would start to run away (albeit slowly because of the grass), and he would go after it and catch it, and then lie down and wait again. Eventually after some time, he started to grab it and take little "crunch" bites that would crush it, and then let it go. It started to get a bit disgusting after the second crunch, so I separated Maverick and the mouse. I gave Maverick a nice juicy bone to distract him while Andy put the mouse out of its misery.

Fast-forward yet again to last Sunday. Justin was about to mow, and he found two more mice under the mower in the corner of our garage. Using my experience from my last adventure, I knew what the mice would try to do and we developed a simple little setup that worked flawlessly. We got both mice, and Justin did the manly thing and disposed of them. It was a lot more hassle-free than the previous time, and now we know that at least those two mice won't be returning. Are we finally done with the mice? I don't know but it sure is making for some entertaining times.

Tomorrow is Taylor's birthday. Happy early birthday! For her birthday dinner we are hitting up Salt Lick BBQ, making it an official tradition since we went last year too. On Friday, we are going to have some people over to the house and have a party on her behalf. Should be fun, I think I will play a lot of beer pong.