Was that a mouse?

 

Waiting for the Pest Control Guy

Oh the drama in our house.  The other night, my human was working on her laptop in the dining room. And Paxton went crazy.  He was lying next to my human, he jumped up and ran to the other room with his tail between his legs.  Then he ran to the front door and started barking.  And then he came back to my human, looking very nervous, got REALLY close to her and started staring at the ceiling.  Which can mean only one thing.  We have a mouse in the house.   I have written before about our yearly “preparing of the arsenal” in the Fall – when we have field mice who decide that staying indoors is MUCH more comfy than outdoors in the winter.  And my human now EXPECTS the arrivals– so she is prepared for them.  This year, she set the traps early and she plugged up any POSSIBLE points of entry.  And we only had ONE lone soul back in the Fall – AND one about two weeks ago.  My human was thinking that since we ARE getting closer to Spring, maybe this year the number of annual visitors would be very small.  Unlike the huge number of Americans who will be descending on our home in Canada this Fall if Trump becomes President...   But I digress.

So the other night my human repeatedly had to reassure Paxton that the mouse would not get him.  Frodo and I did not care – although ALL of us got pretty excited when we heard that trap go off two weeks ago.  My human had to barricade us in the bedroom while she played mortician.  I hate to admit this non-environmental behavior – but she does not re-use traps.  Please do not send hate mail.  She recycles and uses our compost bin, doesn’t waste water and turns off the lights.  But she does NOT reuse traps. 

Back to Paxton.  Because he was SO agitated, my human started to wonder if it WAS a mouse.  Did I happen to mention that the squirrel-free bird feeder is empty?  And my human has NEVER seen a bird on it?  BUT my human spotted a squirrel hanging off the feeder the other day?  And the feeder was VERY, VERY close to the house.  So take a neurotic Bernese who hears something, and combine that with a neurotic human who now envisions an attic full of squirrels and you guessed it – we have to call in the Pest Control people. 

While the man examined every nook and cranny in the house and climbed up into the attic, we were all sequestered on the deck.  Frodo screamed through the glass door that it was JUST A MOUSE – and WE could get him – but my human preferred to pay some guy to put traps in the attic.  He didn’t see evidence of squirrels, raccoons, or bears – but he did see mouse poo.  Mind you he said it COULD be old mouse poo.  Surely in this day and age if they can send a man to the moon and analyze DNA from mummies, they can tell if it’s old or new poo! Apparently not.  So several hundred dollars later, we are well-equipped with several DOLLARS worth of traps and Paxton and my human will be able to rest peacefully.  Frodo and I just shook our heads…And she calls ME the crazy one….

Have a GREAT Friday!!

©  Linda Wozniak