Tuesday, June 02, 2009

Dazed and Terrified

June 2, 2009

Last night I was sitting at my laptop thinking, "Wow, since the kids have gotten out of school, I really haven't had many topics or much time to blog." No sooner than that thought crossed my mind, I heard a lot of frantic scuffling upstairs.

"It's a... It's a..."

"What is it, Daddy?"

"Go to your rooms, run!"

I thought about just letting this one play out without my intervention, but decided it was probably worth investigating, if only to see if it was a blog-able moment.

I shouted up, "What is it?" To which Jason (in a shaky voice) replied, "It's a mouse! I think it's dead. I don't know what to do with it. Maybe we should get a box..."

In totally un-Lianne-like fashion, I grabbed the broom and dustpan on a stick (not to be confused with the Jalapeno on a stick--I love that guy!), and said, "I'm coming up. Where is it?" I warily trudged up the steps as Jason answered, "It's right there, on the stairs! I'm freaking out!"

I spied the mouse, curled up next to one of the risers, totally motionless. A few moments later, I spied Jason, who was also standing motionless some 10 feet away from the presumably dead rodent, as if it had the plague or a semi-automatic handgun.With all due caution, I approached the critter. His eyes were open, yet he was completely still. I said in a hushed voice, "I think he's dead." I eased the dustpan open and slowly edged it towards the tiny beast. The thought went through my head that he should probably be belly-up with the dramatic rigor mortis setting in...

Then...

It.MOVED.

Without looking to see if Jason was still breathing, I mumbled, "Um, yeah, he's alive, REALLY alive."

I suppose that he may have gotten in to the poison that our pest control guy put out earlier this spring to take care of the weird scratching noises we had heard in the attic. More than anything, the little guy appeared to be dazed or drunk.I threw caution to the wind. I POKED it with the broom bristles.
(Dramatic re-enaction:)
It wrapped its tail a little tighter around itself, but didn't move from its hidey-hole in plain sight. I carefully made the dustpan look like a friendly little on-ramp. Then, I shepherded the thing forward with my magic broom:
No, not that magic broom and mouse... Anyhow, it strolled right into that dustpan like it was the most natural thing it had ever done. Jason let out a big sigh. I had not yet started breathing again. (That only started back about 90 minutes later, give or take an hour.)

With crazed, bulging eyes, I looked at Jason and asked through clenched teeth, "What.Do.I.Do.With.IT.NOW???"

He says in utter seriousness, "I don't know...Flush it?"

(The thought had crossed my mind, but I couldn't do it in good conscience.)

I jokingly suggested, "I could put it in a bag and you could stomp on it."

Without waiting for Jason's color to come back, I started down the stairs and out the front door, all the while holding the dustpan closed with the broom. I don't think I blinked once. As I opened the door, Jason, still upstairs and not even attempting to come down, asks "Do you need some help?" I whimpered in reply and stepped outside.

I went down the driveway, down the street, and to the cul-de-sac farthest from any houses, but under a streetlight so I could see. I unceremoniously dumped the little freeloader and mentally shook my fist at it. It looked up at me expectantly, as if it knew something bad was coming.

So...

I poked it with my broom.

It ran the other direction, hopefully never to be seen again.

13 delightful comments:

Gina said...

You are so much more of a woman than I! I am deathly afraid of mice...even dead ones in traps. Like so much that I physically cannot make myself move!

But I LOVED the pictures!!

Lois Christensen said...

Okay, I need to let you know that I am scared to death of mice!!! AND we have tons of them living under our back porch and our shed and our garden wall. So that means I'm scared to death to even plant some of my flowers!!! Can you please come by sometime this week to take care of my mouse problem????? You are the bravest!!

Rachel said...

WOW. You got some GREAT pictures to illustrate that post - good job! I love it.

We had a VERY large spider incident Saturday night. Spiders are Chris' phobia (Roaches are mine), so I offered to take care of it for him. But, he had too much "protector of my family" in him to allow me to do that. He went down and got it, with a wavery voice and a shaking hand, and a few VERY good jobs of holding back any words we wouldn't want our daughter to know, and caught it in Gladware.

We, like you, didn't know what to do with it next.

So we froze it.

I felt bad - like it was inhumane, but within an hour, he was curled up and on his back.

The next morning I took it out, and he clanked around his Gladware home like an ice cube. He (and his Gladware) are still sitting on top of the fridge, because I hadn't decided whether to blog about him or not.

So now I guess I have.

I'm going to go throw him and his Gladware coffin in the garbage now.

Annikke said...

I am SO terrified of mice that there is no way I could have gotten that close to it! EW EW EW EW EW EW EW EW and no way would I let it leave either...oh no. ALLL those pesky little critters should die! EW EW EW EW

2 Little Irish Boys said...

Now that was an exciting night! I would not have handled that situation as well as you did!!

Billy Coffey said...

Honorary Man Card awarded.

Christen said...

You are really brave, I would've run away and hid if I saw a mouse!

Valerie said...

There is no way dead or alive I would have went near that thing. But I couldn't have flushed him either. lol

MamaHen said...

Yuck! I hate mice. I have had to flush a dead one and it was the grossiest thing ever! You are very brave indeed.

Jill said...

Oh my word, you are so brave!

j said...

Oh this was an AWESOME post. You made me giggle!

And EEEEEWWWWWWW!

Unknown said...

Once, lomg ago, Lianne's mother and I were moving some things in our back yard when she screamed. I duck-walked instinctively for fear on a snake.
All it was was a small mouse!
I told Lana to NEVER scream like that again UNLESS it was a SNAKE!
This time it was a SNAKE! But it was not poisonous, so I promptly placed a size 10 1/2 on it anyway.
I think this was one of the few times that I actually got back a little of the extra $5.00 I paid the preacher to add "love, honor, and OBEY!" to our wedding vows a few years ago (36).
I like to read your blogs, Favorite Daughter of mine!

Anonymous said...

Ohhhhh I am so relieved that you didn't kill it! I was about ready to cry! lol...