The Great Mouse Round-Up

A few weeks ago I walked into the kitchen and saw something run across the back of the sink, and disappear behind my containers of rice, beans, flour, etc. I screamed, composed myself, moved stuff around and found nothing. I was fairly sure it was a mouse, but for a few days we saw no "signs" of a mouse. I was beginning to think that I had imagined the whole thing, when Kh also say the creature fly across the floor and dash behind the refrigerator. Thus began "The Great Mouse Round-Up."

After Kh saw the mouse, we did a quick kitchen remodeling program. We pulled away counters and the stove, trying to find all the possible escape routes. We blocked as many as possible at the time and made a note to buy a trap. Here's a play by play review of the following events...
Day #1: Buy mouse trap and bait with cheese
Day #2: Find mouse trap missing cheese, no mouse. Replace the cheese. Find more "evidence" of well-fed mice in the kitchen.
Day #3: Find the mouse trap missing cheese (again), no mouse. Use peanut butter instead of cheese.
Day #4: No mouse in the trap. See the mouse running behind the fridge again.
Day #5: No mouse in trap. Find MORE "evidence of mice in the kitchen.
Day #6: Replace PB with meat.
Day #7: Catch a mouse! Great Rejoicing!!!
Day #8: Hear 2 mice in the bedroom. Chase one out, but loose him in the kitchen. Then when the other one tried to get away, Kh chased him into the living room where we really had to put our round-up skills into action. Perched in chairs, we chased the creature around the room 3 or 4 times with a sponge mop and a broom stick, yelling and screaming at the mouse like it was a wild tiger. Finally Kh came down upon the mouse with the lethal blow. We brought Puppy-jaan in to get her to carry it out, but she obviously doesn't like mice. Kh had to carry the mouse out in the dust pan, gagging all the way. We had to clean out all of the winter clothes stored under our bed to make sure no mouse families had begun.
Day #9: Buy mouse glue and begin to make mouse traps. (I know it's totally inhumane, but at this point I was extremely tired of chasing mice all over the place and living in fear that one was going to run up my skirt while I was in the kitchen. Plus, they are nasty creatures.)
Day #10: Caught 2 mice in glue trap (baited with cheese).
Day #11: Caught 2 mice in glue trap.
Day #12: Caught 1 mouse, but still finding mouse "evidence".
Day #13: Caught no mice.
Day #14: Caught 1 mouse
Day #15: Caught 1 mouse
Day #16: NO MICE!! (and no new evidence)
We are currently on day #17, and there were no mice this morning, so that's a good sign.

We've come to the conclusion that the early onset of cold weather (we're down in the 30's at night now) may have lured the mice to a warmer home. However, I am not willing to share the house with a bunch of mice, even though as a child I told my mother that I wanted to keep the mouse that was terrorizing our house and that I would wash its feet to make sure it was clean. I have grown up and put my childish ways behind me...