Oh, but unfortunately, there was.
Brian and I encountered a mouse.
I'll pause while you pick yourself up off the floor.
Of all the horrific things, I thought spiders were pretty bad. I found out they are nothing in comparison to a mouse. Do let me tell the story.
Two nights ago, I was getting ready for bed. Brian was still in the living room, sitting on the floor and going over music he is teaching. I had just headed to the bedroom, AFTER BEING IN THE LIVING ROOM FOR HOURS, and I was just settling my brain with the Bradley Method and then a long winter's nap.
Brian called out to me, "Bear," sort of long and drawn out, with hesitancy in his voice. (Our affectionate nickname for each other is "Bear".)
I said, "Yeah?" awaiting with dread that there was news of a huge spider.
"We have a mouse. For real."
I'm not sure there are words to express the shock and horror that came upon me at that moment. What did you say? Here, in our house? In our home? In the place I usually find comfort and serenity?
At first, I was frozen. I thought it would magically disappear or that Brian would just as magically make it go away. Still talking in separate rooms, he informed me it ran into the kitchen (our kitchen, dining, and living room are an open floor plan). I kept thinking, the kitchen isn't big, surely we can find it, but Brian said it was hiding. I had a lot to learn about a mouse.
I slowly crept out of the bedroom. What I really wanted to do was grab my things, jump into the car with Brian, and drive to the motel in downtown Milford, and call an exterminator in the morning. But no. I knew I had to at least see what we could do. We didn't have any traps. We did have some mice poison on hand just in case, so Brian retrieved it from the closet downstairs and sprinkled that around, but would it eat it?
The answer is, no, it did not.
We tried to come up with a plan. At first, Brian said perhaps he could chase it down the stairs through the front door. He tried doing that with the vacuum (by this time the mouse ran out from the kitchen and underneath the love seat), while I held open the front door. While I was doing that, the mouse ran into the panel underneath the fireplace. At first, Brian thought we could fry the thing, but I reminded him that it is quite safe in the panel; it isn't actually the fireplace. What to do? The mouse kept peaking out, and Brian kept turning on the vacuum each time so as to scare it and keep it in there.
It was just about ten when this started, and the time was slowly creeping later and later. Poor Brian needed to get to sleep if he wanted to get up at 5:30. We were almost about to prepare for bed, because we didn't know what to do. Obviously the mouse wanted out, and as soon as we were gone this thing would run all over. Horrors! I just couldn't take it. It did run out a few times, and Brian again scared it with the vacuum, and it kept running straight back into the fireplace panel.
Finally I said, "What if we could somehow get it out the sliding glass door?"
Brian thought it was a great idea. He went and opened it wide, and then we tried to figure out how in the world we could corral this fast moving critter out that door. When it left the fireplace, it kept running along the wall, but we wanted it to go the other way. Finally, we stood guard, each armed with a weapon. Brian had the vacuum and the broom on the side where the mouse kept coming out, and I stood in the center of the room with our little emergency snow shovel. What I was going to do with it, I didn't know, but I certainly felt better holding it.
(Before all of this, I took the time to empty my Lazy Susan cabinet of all food items that the mouse might get into and put them into cabinets higher up. I also put a towel under our bedroom door and a rug under Baby's room, where I have quite a few things already. Brian and I also donned shoes for battle.)
At first, Brian tried to scare the thing to come out. We realized that wouldn't work. Then we decided to just be quiet. And we prayed. I told our Almighty God that Jesus sent the demons into the pigs and off of a cliff, so surely this would be nothing, and I asked for some heavenly help. We waited. We watched. I had to grab a kitchen stool to sit on because my pregnant body was killing me from all the stress. Finally, the mouse flew out in the direction we wanted. Yes! But no! Instead of going straight out the door, it veered left into the kitchen again, sort of in a niche under the dishwasher. We sprung into action. I went to the left side of the counter with my trusty shovel and started banging the floor (it seemed like a good idea), while Brian got the right side with the vacuum and broom. Brian warned me to back up because if the mouse sprung out suddenly, he knew I'd be scared. Good thinking!
We ended up switching places, and the mouse ran underneath the stove, further away from the door. Then it ran under the fridge, again, further away. Brian stood guard and refused to let the thing past, so the mouse had no where to go but the direction we wanted it. It ran toward the sliding glass door, but went behind the garbage can instead. It was so close! After a breathless moment, it finally leaped out the door. I shouted to Brian, "Shut the door!" since he was closer. He shut it, locked it, and made sure it was good and tight. I put my shovel down and we collapsed in each other's arms, weary, relieved, and exhausted. By the time it was over, it was almost one o'clock in the morning.
I could hardly sleep that night, and we were both exhausted yesterday. I still am creeped out, to say the least. We live in the woods now, and this was the first time I had ever seen a live mouse, except for college biology when my professor fed a live mouse to the caged snake.
To say that I am still scared is the understatement of the century. I keep looking around everywhere I go. We have put vinegar-soaked cotton balls all around the house, because we read mice hate the smell of vinegar, and we are seriously discussing getting a cat. I have never had a pet except for a fish, but Brian loves cats, so at least one of us would love the thing. (I will try my best.) We are currently researching what cats are good mousers.
So that's the drama in our lives right now. I need to catch up on chores, because I left the house yesterday to go over a friend's. (No way was I sitting here all day alone.)
We will do what we can to make sure our home is safe for our little one coming in less than two months. If a cat is the answer, I'm willing.
Our family size may be growing more than we thought! Stay tuned.
