EEEEeeeek!

It's a mouse! Yep, it's a little after 3:30 in the morning. I'm usually up by now anyway, but not with so much drama. Princess (skinny, scrawny 7 lb cat) practically tore the bed apart trying to wake me up earlier. I stumble down the stairs, put on the coffee, dump warm water over the cat (that's another story) and sit to watch the rest of last night's episode of The Closer.

Then there's the yowls and the sound of carpet being shredded behind me. Princess is trying to rip the carpet off the floor to dig her way under one of the radiators. My first thought is a moth must have gotten under there - she's a great moth killer.

I find a flashlight, shine under the radiator and find nothing. Look some more and see a lot more nothing, well, except for some dust. Turn off the flashlight, reach for the cat and whoosh. (Probably should be a tiny whoosh - it was a very small mouse) There goes the mouse across the floor. Right now it's under the chair I usually sit in to knit with Friday (massive, beautiful 28+ lb cat ) standing - actually laying guard beside it.

Now it's waiting for daylight to go find a mousetrap out in the garage. Yes, I'm going to use a regular old mouse trap if I can find a place to put it where the cats can't reach it. I figure a quick death will be a lot easier the mouse than letting the cats do what comes natural and torture it to death.

Mouse Update
It's a little after 7:30 now and the mouse is gone. After FOUR HOURS of all the animals digging, sniffing, whining, yowling and generally being pains in the butt, Princess caught it. Blechhh... I hate the way cats play with prey. I carried Princess (who had the mouse's head in her mouth) to the back porch and shut out the other animals. Then the real fun began. I shook her, no good. I begged, nothing. I cursed, nothing. Picked up a can of beer the hubby left out there last night after he did the yard work and dumped it on her head - AHA!! She dropped the mouse and caught it before I caught her. We did this a couple of times. Finally, I caught her first and threw her skinny wet butt back in the house. Caught the little spit covered mouse in a rug and tossed it out on the back stoop. Now I've got a cat that reeks like a brewery. I only hope she grooms herself, gets a little beer buzz and sleeps for a couple of hours so we can all get a little rest around here.

Hmmmm... I guess that now all the furniture is pulled away from the walls and the dog has knocked all the books from the shelves during the hunt, I can get the last part of the sweeping and dusting done.