Monday, February 01, 2010

The MICE Fiasco

Yes - we have (hopefully now PAST tense) mice in our attic.  Yes, you remember correctly - our house is only 8 months old.

So one night I heard scratching and them fumbling around.  I FREAKED out.  We never had that kind of thing happen EVER since we've been married.  So I TRIED to wake the sleeping log (Brian) up.  I told him there was something in the attic.  I told him several times as the noises became more assaulting to my sanity.  It was literally 2 in the morning, and I was still curled in a fetal position, listening intently to the scratching, scurrying, and other noises I dared not envision in my mind.  Sleep fled from my mind.

My cute sleeping log, I mean husband, told me it was "JUST MY IMAGINATION"  and it was "JUST THE WIND COMING THROUGH THE VENTS- As IF!!

So, several nights later of these crazy noises, I actually was able to time waking up Brian, keeping him awake for 10 seconds, while the noise happened above our heads.

Then as I was cutting Brian's hair in our bathroom, he HEARD IT in full consciousness while I was changing settings on the razor.  AH HAH!  Now we were on the same page!

Luckily one of our friends who takes care of this stuff - pest control - came over and gave us his full expertise, to which we are eternally grateful.   He put some cool peanut butter poison that dehydrates the mouse and causes them to leave the house to look for water.  He saw evidence of mouse, tunnels in the blown insulation, droppings, and entry ways into the house. I was glad we had answers and some GREAT POISON down.

I wish that was the end of the story.  BUT ITS NOT....

So the next night, Brian was with his HS BOYS BOWLING TEAM at State Finals in St. Louis (crazy story for another post) and then ...

IT BEGAN.....

I heard the strangest animal noises of my LIFE and I began to wonder if a totally different animal was up there than I previously thought.  I heard almost human like exertion noises, sounding as if it were pushing something extrememly heavy across the attic...

followed by tapping noise...

Every once in awhile I would hear this strange whinnying noise - I FREAKED OUT!  I did not know mice made THAT noise.  I thought they only squeaked.

I began to doubt all I ever knew about mice.  Or maybe it was a opossum....or a racoon....or a squirrel...

I DIDN'T know.  It was a LONG night.  I literally prayed I would be able to sleep with freaky animal noises occurring right above my head.  I imaged with all the exertion noises I would hear, that it would chew through the ceiling or something.

The next day, I texted Brian a series of FREAKED OUT TEXTS about the horrible night it was.  And I was STILL hearing the noise.  At one point it even seemed like the noise was coming from the computer in our room..but then I looked above the computer at the ceiling and then realized it was coming from the area right ABOVE the  computer.  GREAT - it was only 5 feet away from me.  PERFECT.

I took a bath listening to the exertion noises, the tapping, and the occasional freaky whinnying.  It was a very NOT relaxing bath.  I again pictured crazy scenarios with these noises.  If that mice wouldn't eat those peanut butter things, or didn't DIE, maybe it was WAY bigger than previously thought!

Then the most EMBARRASING MOMENT OF MY LAST 12 MONTHS CAME:  I went to the computer to turn it on, and there before me was....

My daughter's BELLA SARA HORSE website was on the computer.  ONLY THE MONITOR HAD BEEN OFF AND THE VOLUME WAS UP , so I had been listening to BELLA SARA HORSE WEBSITE noises for the past 12 hours.

I was SOOOOO relieved, and also felt SO UTTERLY STUPID....but then relieved again...and the SO UTTERLY STUPID AGAIN...and then SOOOO relieved.

Happy ending - I have not heard a "mouse" since that night!  (OR A REAL MOUSE!)