We set the no-kill trap up in our kitchen last night with a lovely spread of multi-grain tortilla with crunchy peanut butter and a sprinkling of oats.. fine dining. At about 2am, Shiela woke up and decided to check in on it and the little dude had fallen for the bait! In the corner of the trap sat a little mousie with big ol' black eyes and huge ears.

Shiela woke me up. We stood in the kitchen. We stared at it. It stared at us. We whispered.

"I can't believe we caught it"

"What do we do with it now?"

"He's so tiny"

"It's cold outside."

"Is it wrong to just put it in the basement?"

"Why is he still staring at us?"

"Why are we whispering?"

So we each put shoes on and got a bag and a towel and in a move straight out of some bio-warfare movie, we carefully lifted the trap and put it into the bag. Shiela was making Darth Vader sounds.. "wwhhooo.. paahhhhh.."

We brought it outside.. looked around the neighborhood.. looked at each other..

"What do we do now?"

"Let's put it over there..."

We walked across the street over to our neighbor's fence. Is that wrong? We're horrible neighbors. I even hit their daughter's car once when I was backing out of our driveway.. of course, I hit just about anything and everything when I'm driving.. stay off the sidewalks!

Anyway.. I took the trap out of the bag and put it on the ground. Shiela backed up. I opened one of the two doors. It looked at me. It didn't scamper away.

We have had a few "pocket pets" over the years.. 4 hamsters and 3 gerbils to be exact.. I'll have to post some pics. Anyway.. that's a long story. The point I'm trying to make is that we spent years trying to keep them contained.. trying to be sure that they didn't get out.. trying to keep the cats from them..

Now we have a "wild" mouse and the cats are no where to be seen and I can't get the thing out of the cage.

I shook it. Nothing.

I opened both doors. Nothing.

Shiela backed up.

All of a sudden it FLIES out of the trap and runs about 8 to 10 feet up the utility pole next to the fence. Damn that thing was fast!

We walked slowly back across the street.. shaking our heads.. back upstairs.. set the trap again.. by this time, both cats KNEW something was up.. yeah.. they are quick!

My guess is that Jerry ate the piece of bread that I brought out for him (yeah.. i KNOW..) and then crossed the street and found his family's little passageway into our basement. he's probably back in the wall behind the kitchen cabinets as we speak scoping out the fresh tortilla and peanut butter sitting in the trap. My guess is that he's too smart to fall for THAT one twice!

Yes.. I have pictures. Pictures of Jerry. Pictures of the cats sleeping. It was 2am.. of COURSE I had my camera! Now I just have to figure out how to install the drivers so that I can download the pics from the new camera.. doh!