Mousegate

This has nothing to do with moving to Africa but is still a really good story...

Act 1 The Discovery

I was going about my business in the bathroom last night at about 11:30 PM when a mouse decided to make an appearance. I was standing on the toilet screaming and the mouse was going nuts trying to get out of the bathroom. Finally, he went back into the cabinet. I managed to pull myself together to run into the living room to get Blake.

Act 2 The Dilemma

So the mouse is still in the cabinet, but the question was, what do to now. You can't just ignore it and go about your business. But catching mice is not something you learn in college either. And you add that to the fact that both Blake and I were not interested in physical contact with it, and it was quite the conundrum. How do you catch a mouse without touching it?

Act 3 The Solution

Keep in mind that it was nearing midnight at this point. We closed the door of the bathroom. I got into the bathtub with a broom. Blake got on top of the toilet with a large plastic bowl. After we had moved everything off of the floor, we opened the cabinet and the madness began. Picture it: I was screaming and trying to push the mouse with the broom towards the toilet. Blake was laughing hysterically and trying to get a good shot at the mouse which was going nuts. It took one shot and the mouse was in the bowl.

Act 4 The Second Dilemma

Now, we have the mouse pinned under the bowl, but how to get it outside? You can't just turn it over and expect the mouse to cooperate. We tried to slide a trashbag underneath it. Finally, Blake got a newspaper and was able to slide the bowl with the mouse on top of it over the newspaper. He then sealed the bowl by taping the newspaper over the top of it and putting the lid on. Here are some pictures:

Act 5 The Drop Off (Mouse Ethics)

So how do you get rid of a mouse that you have trapped in a bowl. No one wants to kill a mouse themselves. You can't just put it in the yard because it will come back in. You can't put it in the neighbor's yard because that's not very nice. We discussed dropping it off a bridge and leaving it to suffocate in the bowl, but let's face, we had grown a little fond of the poor little guy. At some point, Blake suggested letting it loose at Sonic. Not sure what he was thinking here!

Finally, we took a trip to the dumpster at a gas station and released into his new paradise. Garbage all to himself. Here are some pictures of the mouse in our car and his new dumpster home:

In the words of Blake: "This is ridiculous."