of mice and men

the fun never ends around here. the other day, i was horrified to see a mouse sitting on the chair in the bathroom, as if he owned the place. he just looked at me and didn't even flinch. just stared at me, challenging me to make him move.

so, i got my trusty mice killing machine -- the cat (the one that actually kills the mice), and let him into the room, and shut the door. immediately a wild chase ensued, around and around the room. lots of scrambling and crashing into things and wild squeaking. except the mouse kept running towards me, so i thought it might be a good idea to leave. except that if i left, the door would open and the mouse would escape too.

so my clever idea to trap the mouse trapped me as well. so i sat on the toilet and tried to stay out of the way of the wild chase. suddenly, i had the horrible realization that something was running up my pants legs and the cat was jumping wildly at my feet. the mouse had crawled right up my pants legs and was actually climbing my leg! oh the horror. immediately, i started screaming and doing a little wild dance, trying to shake the mouse out of my pants. i was afraid he'd bite me, so i didn't want to hit him, and afraid to take my pants off to get him out, only to have him run higher...

so i danced and screamed and looked like i was doing some dance at a ho-down. finally, i managed to shake him out, and he ran and hid behind the cat's water dish, terrified. i'm not sure who was more frightened by the incident, me or him. i imagine it was quite a surprise to climb up a tunnel and have it started dancing and screaming and realize it was alive. hmmm...

so, the cat couldn't catch it and i caught it (carefully) in a jug, and let it outside. i figured after his brave fight for survival, he deserved to live. just as long as he doesn't come into my house again.