Tales of the Mousehunter

I have posted so much about Katie recently and with Annie having her own blog now, I decided Finn needed a little face-time. I have a great story about him, but first I must explain this picture. It was taken at his recent piano recital, but not by me. I had fully intended to video his stunning interpretation of "Sultan's Caravan" by Bastien and post it here for all to enjoy, but in true-to-mom- form I got my camera out to find that the battery had been exhausted. Fortunately for me, my good friend, Lori- who by the way is excellent at documenting her six children's lives- she really should teach classes- was at the same recital and she took this picture for me. He looks so grown up and handsome in this picture. Now on to the story:

We had Thanksgiving at our house this year for my family. Finn invited his two cousins- Michael and Jeffrey to spend the night after the big dinner. I had finished cleaning up from the shin-dig and had just settled into bed to watch a movie with Eric. Finn came into our room and said, "Mom, I just saw a mouse crawl under the door in the family room and go into the craft room." I really was not surprised at this because I had seen evidence that a mouse was in our house, but I hadn't seen a mouse therefore there wasn't a mouse. The same denial tactic Katie uses when she closes her eyes when I ask her to clean up the mess she made. "If I don't look at the mess, maybe it won't be there anymore." So I had rationalized the mouse out of our house in 4year old fashion. Eric told the boys to just ignore it and he would get a mousetrap the next day. They seemed to accept this and went back downstairs. We then heard all kinds of thumps, bumps and rattlings coming from downstairs. After about 10 minutes Finn comes upstairs with his cousins in tow. He is proudly holding a shoebox at arm's length and proclaims, "I caught it!"

"Caught what?", I say. (Remember in my mind the mouse was never in the house because I had not seen it.)

"The mouse."

"Ehhhhhh" and retreating to the farthest corner of my bed was my appropriate female response. I also immediately pictured it my head the scene in "Ratatouille" where there is one mouse seen in the house but there are hundreds in the walls and ceiling. My denial bubble had been burst. Eric said, "Ok- give it to me and I'll kill it."

"Nooo!" Finn and his cousins said. "We want to set it loose outside." As they did this, I am thinking that Michael and Jeffrey must think they are spending the night in a filthy, mouse-infested basement, but then I remember that they are 9 year old boys and this will probably go down in history as one of the best sleepovers EVER!

Even though the mouse had been caught and set loose outside, I still called Orkin the next day because of said "Ratatouille" scene. A really nice, chatty Orkin lady came over and I told her about Finn the mousehunter and recounted my "Ratatouille" fears to her. "Don't worry." she said. "I've only seen that once." WHAT?!? I was just telling you that to be funny and folksy because "Ratatouille" is only an animated movie and those things don't happen in real life. But she proceeded to tell me about a house she saw- up closer to the mountains she assured me- where you could literally hand feed all the rats in this lady's house and yard! Comforting! But after inspecting my house, she told me there was probably only one or two mice in my house. And also that the one Finn had caught the night before would probably come right back because there was evidence in my crawl space that the mouse had been making bedding with imsulation in there so it knows this is its house. "Ehhhhhh!" again from me but this time internally because I didn't want the Orkin lady to know what a fraddy-cat I am of mice. (I still say my prayers on top of my bed at night because one night about 8 years ago I was kneeling by the side and a mouse came scurrying out from under my bed. This was in a different house, but still.) She set some traps and said if I had any more problems to call her.

So I am happy to report that thanks to Finn and the Orkin lady, my house is mouse free. Although I should note that there was a mouse hurt in the telling of this story. Sorry Finn but Mama needs to have a little more reassurance than just seeing the mouse scurry down the street. Which is why I spent $70.00 on the Orkin lady and worth every penny!