Mice like peanut butter.

We were welcomed to our home by little gray mice--not like the ones on Cinderella. I would not want these to help me get dressed while I sing. These critters have to be the fastest things I have ever seen.

Our second night in the house we heard noises about 9:45 as we sat on the couch. Next thing we know we see a little mouse sticking his head out from under the couch looking at us. Then he headed for a crumb on the other side of the room. It was almost as if he knew we would have no idea what to do. We had no traps. We were too slow to put anything over him. We just sat on the couch in horror that an animal would be in our house.

Night three we were ready with traps. At 9:45 our trap tipped. (It catches them alive.) The kids had their hamster cage ready for a temporary pet mouse. We dumped him into the cage and we were all watching him run like crazy in the cage. All of a sudden he was out. He climbed through the cage opening somehow. The openings are only slits! We all screamed like little girls and jumped about two feet into the air. We screamed so loudly that we scared him back into the cage! Harland picked up the cage and ran outside. The mouse was so scared he would not come out the cage outside with the lid open. So... Harland put cage and all into an empty cooler which we would come to call the mouse cooler. He took it a few miles down the road the next day and freed it. So... we then did late night therapy with the three kids who were all traumatized.

After we finally talked everyone down and got them into bed, I was walking to the bathroom (still totally surrounded by boxes and junk) and stepped on one of the kids' zou-zou pets. It makes a lot of noise and doesn't stop-- rodent noises. I was trying to make it shut up before my children woke up panicked. I have to admit, I could hardly stop laughing.

Mouse problem solved. Well... not quite. We have since caught 6 more mice. One was pregnant and went into preterm labor while in the mouse cooler awaiting release. She had three little pink babies that were too little to survive---- four for one. Now it is no big deal. We set our traps and catch at least one a night. We are no longer using the mouse cooler. Harland is simply executing them quickly outside with a shovel. We decided a day or more in a cooler was not exactly as humane as we thought.

Our plan is to be soon adding a couple of barn cats to our family. One day at a time, though.

By the way, I never knew mice liked peanut butter. I thought you were supposed to set traps with cheese. You know.. like the cartoons. We have been using three different types of traps and they all say to use peanut butter. My youngest hates peanut butter. He has always said it is his enemy. He is feeling affirmed in that opinion since we are using it as bait for mice. I told him they can't seem to resist the smell. And it is something they can't just steal. It takes a minute to eat it. Slowing down is bad for the mice.... good for us.

Psalm 34:8 "Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him."