Saturday, December 18, 2010

It wasn't Gertrude and it wasn't Elizabeth

Turns out the creepy cats in the kitchen staring at the refrigerator wasn't about some spirit like Elizabeth, the previous owner, or her sister, Gertrude, who passed away this year at the age of 91. As more than a couple of people said, it was a mouse. And I found it tonight!

Frankie and Uno were in the kitchen again tonight but this time Frankie was trying to get into the baseboard. I figured his favorite toy had rolled in. So I reached around but the heat was on and the pipes were really hot. Frankie was really insistent and I didn't want him to get hurt by the hot pipes.

I got the flashlight to see if I could see the toy and instead I saw the tail of the mouse. I screamed, of course. Now Frankie and Uno were really excited and the mouse was too. What to do? Obviously the cats weren't going to kill the damn thing. They'd had months to do so.

I figured it was up to me to catch it and what better than the same technique that worked with the bats all those years ago. With a spatula and cottage cheese tub standing by, I poked at the mouse. It ran between my legs. I screamed some more. Frankie chased and cornered it. I poked again with the spatula and thought it had run away. Turns out I injured it. I was able to get it in the cottage cheese container, put on the lid, and set it outside to freeze.

Now, where there's one....

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