Me, the mouse, and blue painters tape

Have you ever had a guest show up uninvited, leave a mess, and assume they can come and go as they please without asking?  Well I had such a visitor this weekend....his name was "Mr. Mouse."  I was unaware of his arrival until I found his left over mess on  my kitchen counter.  Needless to say, I was extremely grossed out and a bit disturbed.  I do not pride myself on being a neat freak but I do try and keep a very clean kitchen.  Since my husband (the neat freak in our house) was away for the holiday, I took a little holiday from doing dishes.  There may have been 7-8 dishes in my sink that were on their way to the dishwasher but they were having so much fun hanging out with each other,  I didn't want to break the party up so I let them stay and hang.  Bad idea.  Mr. Mouse must have been watching and seeing all the fun they were having because he decided to join the party in the wee hours of the night.

What a party it must of been.  Leftover sandwich crumbs, powdered sugar on plates (big hit),  egg residue and the piece de resistance....a cup that at one time held my scoops of dark chocolate ice cream.  He went crazy.  I am sure he felt he died and had gone to mouse heaven.  I, on the other hand, could not of felt more dirty  when I saw what was left.  One word sums it up...."GROSS"

My head was screaming..."SANITIZE, SANITIZE, SANITIZE!"  Out came all the cleaning products we owned.  I immediately broke the dish party up and advised them that this party was over.  Into the dishwasher they all went even the sponge joined them.  Everything on my counter, floor and anywhere else I could see was SANITIZED, wiped, RE-SANITIZED, re-wiped, re-sanitized, and re-wiped.  I was not going to let my uninvited guest get away with this.

Once my cleaning was complete, I pondered now what.  I could put a trap underneath the stove but then if it caught him what then.  I didn't want to have to deal with the cleanup.  Next option, poison.  Not the nicest of ideas but the alternative was worse- late night mouse parties in my kitchen on my counter.  So something had to be done and I had decided poison + a little deterrent- blue painters tape was the solution.  Where ever there was a hole, a possible entrance way, or even a little crevice that my guest could crash the party was taped shut with bright blue painters tape.  See picture.

After remodeling my kitchen and feeling a little tired,  I took a break to relax.  Some time had passed when I began to hear an unwelcome noise coming from the kitchen.  The sound was of something pushing against the cardboard underneath the stove...he was back.  I guess he didn't get the picture from all of the painters tape that he is not welcome and should find somewhere else to go and party.  I quickly flicked on the lights after stepping over my two big useless watch dogs and entered the kitchen.

 

Kilty, the dog on the left is a 120 lb. over weight Rhodesian Ridgeback.  In her native land, Africa,  this breed is used to hunt lions.  I don't think she would do well as a lion hunter she can't even capture a little itty bitty mouse.  Porter just put his paw up and groaned.  He was too tired to hunt mice tonight. He needed to rest because he had only napped 20 hours of his 24 hour day.  So I ventured into no mans land to see what was waiting for me.  To my surprise ....NOTHING.  My painters tape had worked.  Yahoo.  I gave the cardboard a quick tap to let the little guy know I was onto him then I left the lights on and went to bed.  I can only hope in the morning Mr. Mouse didn't crash the kitchen party.  His buddies, Mr. Plates and Mrs. Bowls and their extended family members the Utensils were all quietly resting at the Kenmore Spa.

So until tomorrow I will keep my fingers crossed that Mr. Mouse has found a new partying place.

"The best plans of men and mice often go awry." 

Robert Burns