EEK! There's a moose in the hoose........

Actually I'm not really scared of mice, that was just for theatric effect - but I have to say I have one little bugger that is bugging the heck out of me. Many eons ago, when my oldest kids were little we used to own a couple of our own - Julia and Bitsy - who have now gone to that great cheese factory in the sky. The one that is annoying me now is a little grey mouse with twitchy whiskers and little black beady eyes and he's completely ferrel.

He comes out at night ... like all good mice who have a smidgen of common sense  ... and is leaving me little presents on my stove top. So like any good householder who is grossed out by little black nuggets would do, I set a trap. Only to find my mouse is so smart he foils me at every turn. For two weeks straight I have found the trap has gone off by morning, but where's my prize? It's empty. Then the mystery was solved.
Mason, who is by the far the biggest animal lover in our house, was going behind my back, sneaking out of bed when I hit the sack later, and undoing all my good work. Hmmm. I suppose the bucket and ruler trick I came out to find yesterday sitting under the bench top should have been a dead giveaway. (You know the trick.... you balance the ruler half way on top of the bench, put some food at the end that swaying in the breeze and the mouse runs down to eat, tips the balance and he lands in the bucket. Then you put him outside to run with all his other little mouse friends.)

I decided this would be a nice humane way of doing things in the end. So we went with that plan. Until now. I heard a scuffling behind my computer - not ten minutes ago - and before I could even utter a 'What the?" a little grey missile came streaking out and ran across my hand using the mouse. To say 'heart attack' doesn't even begin to explain what I went through. So now I am on a search and destroy mission and I'm giving him due notice. Mouse! Watch your back! You only have days to live!