The Virginia Trapper Strikes Again!

John was sitting in his recliner and began hearing knocking and scratching in the drawer of the side table.  I had bought a giant pack of M&M Peanuts and, when I got home, put some in ziplock baggies for "individual" servings.  I had put those in the drawer next to John's recliner. 

We took all of his baggies out and, sure enough, something had chewed a hole in one and there were loose M&M peanuts rolling around in the drawer.  THERE'S A MOUSE IN THE HOUSE! (again).

I suddenly get this mental image of a little mouse (cartoon style) struggling with this giant M&M Peanut, trying either to break through the candy shell, or trying to roll it over to the side of the drawer and lifting, pushing it up the wall of the drawer to try and get it to his (or her) nest.  (Probably a her - she was grocery shopping for the children :-)  (The lengths us mommies go to to feed our families...)  What a hoot!

So the Virginia Trapper goes to work.  He smears peanut butter (obviously the varmint likes peanuts) on a mouse trap and tries to set it under the side table. SNAP! the trap goes off.  (Trapper John HATES mouse traps - they spend more time trying to trap him than the mouse...)  So he resets the trap and tries to set it under the table again.  SNAP!  Sitting in the other room I have a better view under the table, and I think I see something under there.  Trapper John gets on one knee so he can see better and, sure enough, there's a dead mouse!  That critter liked peanuts so much that John didn't even let go of the trap before the mouse took a lick!  How FUNNY!

But, wait a minute!  Was it really dead? or just stunned?  (Gives a whole new meaning to "Wanted Dead or Alive.")  I mean, it wasn't caught in the trap, so what was the deal?  Trapper John carefully grabbed him (or her) by the tail and threw it out the back door.  If it was dead, it would either be there in the morning or feed a stray cat during the night.  If it was alive maybe it would have enough sense to go live somewhere else.

Well, when I went to take my nightly shower I saw some mouse droppings and a kernel of deer corn ( ! ) in the linen closet.  Either Momma Mouse was planning on setting up housekeeping in the linen closet or starting a corny retail business.  (Get it?  "Corny.")  I called on Trapper John again, and he set another peanut butter trap in the linen closet.

First thing this morning, like any good trapper, John checks his trap.  Sure enough, he's caught another one - and this one is definitely dead.  When John left for work the mouse he had tossed out the door was gone.  Either it DID go looking for safer lodgings, or it came back in the house for more peanut butter and was summarily dispatched to the afterlife.  All tolled, John caught three mice last night!

Trapper John once again goes into retirement...