There’s a mouse in the……

......CAR!!!

You are reading that correctly. My car has a mouse in it. How do I know? Evidence. First there was the chewed open package of Clif Blocks, CranRazz to be exact. Two holes the size of dimes and the corners of two blocks eaten. Next was the packet of hot chocolate with a small hole in it.

Then there is the ripped up napkin in the glove compartment and of course the tiny little mouse turds……ewww gross.

You see my vehicle sits outside because Aimee’s car gets the garage. And with all of the “stuff” (three bikes, Christmas storage boxes, two lawn mowers, two snowblowers, eight 5 gallon jugs of waters…..get the picture) being stored on the other half……..I get to park outside 365 days of the year.

So when the snow arrives and the little yard mice get cold, someone is bound to find the spacious HAMC (High Altitude Mouse Camp) in my car.

So yesterday there was a mouse all jacked up on runner’s crack (Clif Block) and hot chocolate running around in my car. I searched the places I could to try and find the little bugger. Not in the glove compartment. Not in the engine bay. Not under the seats. Hopefully not IN the seats. I left him some more food. I figured he would be hungry. Hungry enough to stick his scrawny little neck into a spring trap. Just a dab of peanut butter and SNAP……problem solved. He wouldn’t have to worry about the cold any more and I would have successfully evicted an unwelcome passenger in my car.

I placed the trap on the floor, passenger side. This morning I checked my trap and saw nothing. Let me repeat that, nothing. Oh the trap was still there. The trap was still set. However the bastard was talented enough to get all of the PB off the trap without setting it off. Who is this guy, Stuart Little?

I was going to use this to my advantage though. He must surely think, “Hey, I can get a free meal on this thing. No problem.” So I set the trap again. This time with a small amount of cheese jammed in there. He will have to work at it this time and SNAP, problem solved.

I left the trap in the car during the morning while I worked on a customers new computer system. I would check the trap when I went out during lunch. I was anxious to see if the trap was “occupied”. DAMN. The trap was still set and the cheese was untouched. I had to run out and refill the 5 gallon water jugs we use at home. The store where I fill them at is just down the street from my customer. The timing was perfect because we had just emptied the last of eight bottles.

At the store I started refilling the bottles and noticed that one bottle looked rather dirty on the bottom. I wasn’t sure if there was mud underneath the bottle from yesterdays trail run or what. I peered into the bottle and much to my surprise I found that little bastard mouse….dead. Somehow he had managed to get inside this huge bottle and found himself trapped…then died…..not before crapping all over the bottle……..little tiny mouse turds. I still don't get how he got in the bottle. The cap at left covers the large opening to the bottle. However, the little white cap in the middle was off, common occurance. But the hole is smaller than a dime. He might have caused himself some serious internal damage getting into the bottle.

No wonder the trap hadn’t been tripped again. He must have been thirsty from stealing the peanut butter and there was some extra water in the bottom of the bottle. These bottles were in the car overnight so he made his way in there during the 12 hours they were in the car.

I shared my story with the lady at the refilling station and she said they sanitize the bottles that are traded in. She said to leave the bottle, someone else would dispose of the mouse and I could refill a clean bottle instead. I was oh so happy to be rid of that mouse. I didn’t want to clean the bottle. But I do need to clean the rest of the car. Who knows where else he crapped.

So that is the story of my mouse in the car.

Game On…..except for mice.