Of Man And Mouse

Okay, I have a problem. No, wait, that's way too simplistic. I have a house. There is this mouse. This mouse has found it's way into my house. This mouse is living in the pipes under my bathtub. The little mouse HAS a problem--ME! 

I found this mouse when I opened up the shower door. It was sitting in my tub. And before I could do anything about it, it ran down the drain. This was on Monday evening. On Tuesday morning, no sign of the mouse; I took a shower. Water didn't back up. (No dead mouse blocking the pipes.) Today the same. Good riddance, right? No, not really. Come Wednesday morning, I encountered the mouse again. I tried to block the drain with the stopper, but just like the US in the world cup--I miss, and the mouse scores its second GOOOOOOAAAALLLLL!

I hate this.... I really do.

And I feel genuinely sorry for the mouse. It's made a bad choice on it's little life's journey. It's certainly must regret it. Who wants to live on the crude in the pipes of a shower? But now that I know it's resilient in the face of water running down the pipes, it's time to buy a "no-kill" trap for my little friend. In 20 years of living here, I have found two others. One was mummified under the piano and clearly tossed around by my cats, at the time. The other was in the basement and on it's last legs when I found it. I tried my best to nurse it back to health, but it clearly had ingested something poisonous to it. Lots of options on that account in the basement. They come it most likely through the dryer vent. But since I leave the backdoor open so often for Roméo, that might have been this little guy's entree.

Mice are really very gentle creatures. They assume little and seek less on the whole.

So on Wednesday evening I bought this little no-kill mouse trap.  It has yet to arrive, but little did I realize, my luck would soon change with my little nemesis.  When I came home from work on Thursday, it was out in the tub again, and this time with the aid of a hand towel I got to the drain first!

Here he is awaiting deportation in a tupperware holding cell on the bathroom sink.

 A close up at the point of liberation.  What a sweet little creature.  How could anyone hurt them?

Once free, he/she showed no interest in hurrying away, but after reflecting on the surroundings, just meander away.