For anyone who knows me, I absolutely despise bugs. After we matched in Texas I had nightmares for two weeks about giant bugs that I couldn't kill. Everyone I met from Texas or who had ever lived in Texas or even just visited Texas would laugh and say, "It's hot and humid and there are a lot of big bugs...but you will love it!" They were right about the heat and humidity. They were right about me loving it. But they TOTALLY underestimated the whole bug issue. I heard all about the big roaches, the water beetles and all the bugs that only keep growing because it never gets cold enough to kill them. But I never could have expected what I would experience in the first few months of living here. I must say, I have only seen a handful of roaches, all outside my house. No scorpions or tarantulas as the horror stories made me expect. (Not saying they aren't here, just no problems at our house.) But we have had our share of mosquitos, fleas, fire ants and all the other creatures I don't recognize...all INSIDE our house. Then there's the outside. Ants, Ants and more ants, wasps, spiders, crickets, beetles, dragon flies, who knows what and lizards. They have all given us such a warm welcome. Much warmer than I prefer. They don't realize I don't want to be friends and I am trying to kill them. Or maybe they do, and that's why they have all gained up against me! I'll never know. Anyhow - this morning was a whole different ball game. It all started last night when my husband and I were standing in the kitchen. He shot his head to the side and said, "I just saw a mouse." 

"A mouse?" I questioned. "Are you sure it was a mouse?"

"Well, it could have been a really big cock roach, but I think it was a mouse." 

I pointed out that mice and cock roaches are very different and how could it be either and then hurried to the room where he had seen the mouse run under the door. For the next while he searched for this small mouse or large cock roach while I stood on a chair, keeping guard so it didn't run out of the room. (Or so I could scream if it did.) After awhile with no luck we decided to put a blanket under the door so whatever it was couldn't get out and we could get some sleep. This morning my husband went in to see what he could find, again with no luck. He then left for work and within in ten minutes...there was the mouse! Running around the hallway where we had seen it the night before. I was half relieved it was a mouse, because the cock roach would have freaked me out more, but I called my husband and freaked out over the phone. I had no idea what to do, and he couldn't come home or stay on the phone. I set my baby on the couch and told her, "Mouse!" Trying to not make her afraid, just because I was. Though I am sure my random shrieks every time it popped out weren't showing friendship or bravery. I absolutely refused to let that mouse out of my sight. I could not let it run free in my house and possibly get lost once more. I looked around the room and spotted a cardboard tube I had recently received a package in. "But we are going to make a rainmaker out of that." I thought to myself...and quickly decided catching or killing the mouse was much more important than a rainmaker. I had this clever idea that I could put a trail of food on the floor into the tube and I would certainly catch the mouse. But then what? I wouldn't be quick or brave enough to pick up the tube with a live mouse in it, so that would be pointless. Not to mention there is no way it would just waltz into the tube. Plus everytime I backed away from the hallway the mouse would scurry around, to which I would respond with a scream and a dash towards him and he would scurry back to the blanket. I knew I had him cornered...but no idea of what to do next. I thought about the sticky traps my mother-in-law had given me before we moved, and while keeping my eye on the hallway, quickly backed into the kitchen and reached them out of the cupboard. I then created a death wall of sticky traps across the hallway so this guy couldn't get passed them without getting stuck. Then I worried, what if he won't stick? We had tried this with ants and they didn't stick. But my in-laws had caught a squirrel, so I would surely be able to catch a mouse. I was so afraid he would walk right over it...but I was determined to catch this mouse. I grabbed some goldfish crackers and lined them along the sticky traps. Then I sat, and I watched. I was not going to move until this guy was dead. The little mouse would pop out from the blanket and scurry along the traps. He wanted to get those fish, but knew it was dangerous turf. So for quite sometime this continued. Then he surprised me. He tried climbing on the wall to go around the traps. The straight wall was too much, but he ran to the other side of the hall where our molding curved around into our front room and I knew exactly what he was going to do. He was going to try climbing the molding, and this one might be successful, because the molding was thicker and the wall curved. I was sitting on the floor just waiting to see him appear. And he did. He popped around the corner walking along the molding right above his sticky trap of death. I freaked out. I jumped up and screamed, darting towards him, to which he freaked out and tried to turn around and flopped right off the wall and onto the trap on his side. I almost started crying I was so happy! I got him! It worked! He was squirming and squealing trying to get free. As I got closer he freaked out even more and I instantly felt sad for this cute little mouse. Then I remember this was my house and he was intruding. My sympathy disappeared and I was ready to finish this. But now what? My mother-in-law happened to be on the phone and gave me several suggestions and I just kept fearing he was going to rip free and run wild. But finally I was able to compose myself and make my move. I couldn't pick up just one trap, because I had laid them so they were all stuck together. So I headed toward the opposite side of where the mouse was and started pulling them apart. And that little mouse gave me a run for my money. He somehow managed to turn his head and follow me. He looked out me with sad little eyes as if to beg for mercy. Again, I paused feeling sad, and then realized he had moved his head. What if he managed to get the rest of his body free? I once again freaked out and through the sticky trap in my hand on top of him. As it wiggled I through another...and another...and another. I laid all the sticky traps on him and around the one he was on so he had no way of escaping. I grabbed a shovel and moved him into a bag. Worried he had gotten away I peeked in and saw his tail. What if he had gotten free but left his tail behind? My mother-in-law was still on the phone and said, "He is not a lizard. He won't shed his tail." So I did my best to believe he was there and threw that bag into another bag, which I then took out to the garbage can. Phew. I had done it. I had managed to stay alive, not pass out and get rid of the mouse. I felt half triumphant and half still freaked out, and a little bit bad for the suffering creature slowly dying in my garbage can. And I still worried he might get out. But, after mowing the lawn, throwing the bag of grass into the can and crushing the bag which held the mouse, I assume he is dead. Wow. Definitely not the way I expected to start my day...but hey, I got a great cardio work out, proved brave enough to rid my house of a rodent and made my husband laugh. So I consider it a success.

The sticky trap of death

the Catch

The Close Up

The final trap...the mouse is on the bottom.