Me and Ratty McGee

We have rodents, oh yes...no real reason, we aren't uber clean but not complete slobs...the only reason we have rodents is that our house is old and hard to seal up.  Also, probably the MAIN reason, most of the drywall in our utility room is missing due to plumbing issues, so if an errant vermin winds up in the crawl space or the attic, its pretty simple for it to just climb through the wall and into the house.

That being said, mice always move into our house during winter. I have some experience catching them (and cats) on glue traps.  Yes, I have caught my OWN cat on a glue trap.  Lots of cooking oil, then lots of Dawn soap and I ended up with one mad, and still somehow greasy, kitty cat.  Seems my cats only want to catch and eat the mice that are already caught.

This, however is different.  I found big poo behind the stove, along with insulation that seems to be from the stove. By big, I mean, too large for a mouse, too small to be my cats suddenly deciding they don't feel like using their litter box because they have suddenly become senile.  I cleaned it all up including any food, also did behind the fridge. 

I woke up at 4 am because of some weird rattling noise.  Because of my sleep disorientation, I didn't really locate the sound so I wondered around the house, found nothing, and ended up in the bathroom.  I poked at the small trash can and out this rat came...and, because I was startled, I screamed. Yep. Screamed. Me.  Unusual.  But I was sleep retarded.  I mean, what was I really expecting?  I poked at something to cause some sort of result, right?  Well, I got it then I acted like some shiny cellophane princess. 

The dogs gave chase but to no avail.  The cats simply looked unnerved.  Like, "Erm...oh THAT was what that weird noise was...scary...what? Why are you looking at us like we should be doing something?"

Jon mumbled at me, asked if I was okay when I climbed back into bed, trying to fight off an adrenaline rush because despite the 4 hours of sleep I was still dead tired, so I wanted to go to sleep. Still do, for that matter..but alas, am awake. Then he went back to snoring...until more scratching started then HE became unnerved. 

So, at the unholy hour of 7 am I was on my way to Home Depot to buy some rat traps. Oh yes, I got the ones that look like big, black clothespins so that if I do manage to catch Ratty McGee and probably his pals as well, that I don't have to touch the fuckers to release them from the trap.  Also, it looks difficult to accidentally spring this while setting, which, to me, is a bonus. Mouse traps hurt. A rat trap would probably break a finger.

It is now twenty to nine in the morning. I am exhausted. Jon is....sleeping...damn him, and I am  probably going to try to go back to sleep.  I don't have to leave for work until...12 30pm. 

I hate you Ratty McGee.