
If past posts haven't made you scared enough of my house, I now have a mouse in my kitchen. I knew it was there. At night I could sometimes hear sounds like my oven was turned on but it wasn't. You know that kind of sound it makes sometimes? Anyway. I had told Jared I thought there was a mouse but he seemed not too concerned.
Well, last night Jared was at the table eating soup, gearing up to cut out Ethan and Ike's pinewood derby cars (derby is tomorrow) and he suddenly yelled for me. I was upstairs getting kids to bed. He yelled, "Liz! I need you!" I came running down wondering if he had somehow managed this phrase while choking because Jared is a big choker and I have saved his life more than once. When I came into the kitchen he was holding a broom and was poised by the dishwasher with "crazy eyes." Crazy eyes are Jared's eyes only ten times bigger. He handed me a mop. He said, "We have a mouse!" No kidding.
He kept poking around the stove and dishwasher and mumbling things about the measurements of the cabinets, the height of the floorboards etc. As usual, he believes an error in his building could be blamed for "the little beggar" getting in. He really believes a house can be built so perfectly that it would never have bug, foundation, rodent or any other issues. I try to tell him this is Houston but he doesn't listen. I told him, "Honestly babe, the kids always leave the front door open. The mouse probably just waltzed on in, right past our blind cat, and made himself at home." He wasn't listening.
He proceeded to give me instructions on how to "wap!" the rat with my mop while he pushed it out of it's hiding place with the broom. This thought was almost more than I could bare. I don't do animals. At all. And this is not a sweet little pet, it is a disease-ridden varmint. I was trying to harness my chi and get myself ready for the filthy guy to come running out from under the oven. I was planning on closing my eyes, screaming, and just swatting anything and everything as hard as I could with the mop. But Jared could not seem to find where the rat had stowed away to. At this point, I was ready to just put out some poison, go to sleep, and not set foot in my kitchen until the culprit was dead and GONE. But Jared (he can be obsessed at times) decided we would do a rat watch. We turned off the lights, sat side by side facing our stove........and watched. He really believed this would be productive. I went along with it because I had nothing better to do, and it was kind of entertaining--watching Jared's wild eyes dart around the kitchen while he threw out countless theories as to how the mouse got there, how long he'd been there, and if he had any friends.
This went on for quite sometime with no results. Finally, I went to bed. I'm not sure what happened after that. This morning when I left early to take Harris to the doctor, there was no sign of the mouse or Jared. They were both in their hiding places asleep.
14 comments:
If you had the lights off but were talking did Jared really think the rat would be fooled and think nobody was there? Watching Jared try to outsmart this mouse is going to get very entertaining. Maybe he can fill up the tub and make it look really inviting with some chilled nilla wafers. Then when the mouse decides to take a relaxing soak in the tub J-dog can electrocute him with the cordless phone.
I love you Jared.
Oh, to be a fly on the wall at the Pabst house... I love stories about Jared. Especially told by you.
That is one fine story! Sorry about your rodent woes, hope some normalcy comes back soon.
I think that is one sweet bonding moment for the two of you.
i love that story. soo funny, minus the rat. i especially like the "crazy eyes, jareds eyes but ten times bigger part" hilarious!
Hilarious... I'm sure it will drive Jared bonkers till he gets the little buggar. We had a mouse problem in Provo and I was the one that saw it the first time and screamed my bloody guts out for James and what did he do? He brought the best and strongest thing he could to kill it... "oven cleaner"... what the hizzle!! Needless to say I think it was related to your little friend cuz he never came back out that night, we had to use traps... Good luck to you!
Oh my goodness I love mouse stories! And especially told by you.
If you ever want to hear a REALLY good one (because it is really way to long to type on here) ask Jen about the mouse at Thanksgiving. Picture my dad, andy and craig trying to catch one. It was hillarious!
Hope you catch him soon!
Haha, I could have taken care of that for you. We had rats in several of the apartments I lived in on my mission, and I got quite skilled at taking them out. Plus, I used to kill mice and rats for a living, so, you know, I know what to do :)
Gary
yikes! i hope he was either scared off or you catch him soon. i'll be waiting for an update.
Between your story and Sarah's comment, it's a wonder I have not worked myself into a laughing hernia by now. Seriously, y'all Grover girls gotta get yourselves doing stand-up on the road. It's a good thing you are not telling me this story in person, because I would definitely have sprayed a cold beverage out of my mouth and then fallen on the floor in a fit of wheezing and tears. She's back y'all!
Also, I'm happy to send Daisy over. That dog can catch anything. She's very sweet to humans, especially babies, but is somehow trained in the dark canine arts.
P.S. You're not alone. One afternoon we had baby bat (read: mouse with wings) in our attic in OH. Occasionally it would flap its tiny bat wings and Timmy would walk by and investigate at the door to the attic stairs (lots of old houses in OH have full on walk up stairs and not the little ladder deal from the ceiling). I pulled a Sarah..."I can't concern myself with this." I called Doug at work to tell him Timmy was acting strange at the attic steps. Doug came home, opened the door, and found two little bat eyes staring at him. He caught it with a paper plate and a 32 oz green tumbler turned upside down and released it outside. Apparently in OH it is illegal to kill bats.
Hey, I heard you're not supposed to use poison because the mouse eats it, crawls into the walls, and then dies. Then your house stinks of decomposing mouse that you can't get to unless you tear into your walls hoping to find him. I don't know if that's true but I would hate for that to happen to you.
I am so sorry th cat we gave you is, aside from very cute, slightly defective and can't see well enough to solve your rodent problem. I hope it all gets solved. I loved thi post. I can picture it all so clearly.
I'm with Court, I think ya'll need to get yourself a stand up show, or maybe just write a book. I hope you find the little rodent! Thanks for the good laugh!
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