“He’s our rodent control officer. He doesn’t catch mice, he just terrifies them.”
~ Lilian Jackson Braun
I’d love to be writing an interesting and wordy blog this morning, but we are all exhausted. We being Harry, Bert and I. Ben is lucky enough to be somewhere else just now. Of course. He always misses the excitement.
Shortly after I hopped into bed and turned the light off last night we heard a faint scratching noise.
And then again.
After which we heard a squeak.
Harry was prepared to ignore it. I was vaguely concerned but thought it could wait until morning.
Bert? Bert leapt off the bed (oops, shush, dog on the bed, don’t tell Ben!), and went snuffling and wuffling over to the wardrobe. He wouldn’t let up until I opened the door.
Snuffle, wuffle wuffle, and then to my surprise a tiny mouse darted out of a box Ben had recently brought back from the farm.
Bert raced after it, and so it began.
All night Bert and the mouse ran all over the house (Try til 2am!) until finally he cornered the little critter in the cupboard under the sink in the downstairs bathroom, whose door I had left open to remind me to replenish the toilet paper in that room.
We reached an impasse. Bert would not move, and in my sleep-deprived state I had no idea how to catch the mouse. I left Brave Sir Bert standing guard over the small rodent and went to bed.
This morning Bert was still guarding the mouse, which had died in the night, probably from fright.
Hopefully the mouse had no other friends, and tonight we shall all be able to get some sleep!
This and all the comments were highly entertaining. I am sorry for the dear mouse but Bert probably feels as though it was his job to take care of things and he did it well. Good boy. I think naps are always a good idea. They are good for the heart so enjoy it guilt free. Maybe it’s the solar eclipse or the planet alignment that’s causing all this.
Poor lil mouse and poor you. It’s happened at our house. We had a mouse running trough the house late one night. It was being chased by one of the cats with me trailing behind. The cat didn’t actually know what to do with it (they “kill” socks and toys for us all the time), and I couldn’t catch it. Finally the mouse scurried onto a bookcase and was crushed by a notebook that fell over on it. It was very sad. The kitty was suspicious of that bookcase for a long while.
I hope you get sleep tonight.
The ghost of that mouse will visit you and you will have to help it cross over….you will have to learn to speak mouse and apologies for Bert.
Laughing my head off!
Sorry for your broken night of sleep Nicole, but oh how I wish that little mouse had stayed in the cupboard. Oh well, I guess his pre-birth contract was up.
I know exhaustion and when one is exhausted one gets cranky just saying, unless that is just me but I doubt that is the case
well the antibiotics must have kicked in ! An afternoon nap would be nice 🙂
LOL! Yes, he is feeling brighter and quite chuffed with himself, although I feel sorry for the poor little mousy. An afternoon nap is definitely in order. Bert, of course, is already curled up on the sofa snoring loudly after his tiring night! 😀
Oh that’s a sad story!
I know!
Poor mousy! I usually capture them live and release them to the wild to let them have a small fighting chance. Sorry for the lousy night.
Owls and snakes take care of most of our mice and rats at the farm, but I haven’t had a mouse in this city house for as long as I can remember. I usually try and release them too. I’m looking forward to collapsing on the bed this afternoon, I can tell you!