Until then here is a picture of me after lunch on the first day, in the canoe and ready to go!

So I am in my office last night and again I hear the little critter in the vent. I look over and sure enough I see his little tail sticking through the grate, swinging back and forth.

*Warning!* If you are a mouse or other small furry rodent lover, read no further. The rest of this post is not gory but could disturb the delicate sensitivities of some readers.

As you read the rest of the story don’t scroll down too fast, you would hate to spoil the ending.

Having learned from my mistakes the night before, the first thing I do is grab my camera.

You can see his little feet grasping the vent

Two nights in a row the little guy is in the same place. Seemed logical that a good place to put the trap would be in the vent. I take off the cover and prepare to carefully place my peanut butter baited trap in the opening. As I get ready to do just that I think, maybe I should have a good look in that dark hole before I stick my hand down there. Last thing I want is for the little guy to scurry up my arm as I am reaching my hand in the opening.

Flashlight in hand I take a peek inside the opening. He was still in there and he sure looked bigger than I had first realized. So again, I grab the camera, I just can’t pass up this opportunity. I snap the picture and when I look at it what do I see?

He brought a friend to the party

Now I sit thinking, how am I going to catch them both? The trap will only get one and my other method, which you probably don’t want to hear about, would only get one as well. As I was telling Jen the story afterwards she said, “Did you get the shop vac?” Other than having to then get the mice out of the dusty container, I think that would have been a good solution.

Finally, I decide one mouse is better than none and I come up with a way to get the trap inside the hole, without risking two mice using my arm as the ramp to freedom. You guessed it, kitchen tongs. I would use the tongs to carefully place the trap in the bottom of the opening and then wait for the “snap” which I was sure would not be far behind.

That turned out to be more difficult than you would think. With the tongs in my hand I wonder if I can just grab them. Slowly I move the tongs into the opening until I can feel the bottom and then quickly snap them shut. Knowing I at least had one of them, I take the tongs out. To my surprise I got them both. So again, what do I do? Take a picture. I mean who would ever believe this without proof.

Howdy fellas!

That is my story and the end of the great mouse hunt and that’s all I care to say about that!

Final score:
The Little’s: 1
Daddy “the great mouse hunter: 2

So I am in my office last night and kept hearing a strange noise behind me. At first I thought the raccoon, that’s a story for another day, was in the house. So I slowly crept out of my office, flashlight in hand, hoping not to see little eyes across the room. No eyes and the noise stopped. So I sat back down and a few minutes later there it was again. This time I noticed the noise was in my office, oh yippee, the raccoon is behind my chair, or behind the door where the noise is coming from.

I finally target the sound coming from the return air vent behind the door. So I kneel down, shine the flashlight into the vent and what do I see? Two little beady eyes looking at me, and a pink little nose sniffing the air. Yep, it was a mouse. The funny thing was, he was not scared at all, he stood there his little feet hanging through the vent just looking at me.

So here was my dilemma, do I get my camera or something to “get” him with. In hindsight, the camera would have been better choice, plus I would have had a great picture to share with you all. Thinking that I would be pressing my luck to take a picture and then “get” him and since I knew Jen would not approve of my new little friend, I opted for the latter.

I will spare you all the gory details but suffice it to say, it didn’t quite work out the way I had planned and now the mouse hunt is on!

Score:
Stuart Little: 1
Daddy “the great mouse hunter”: 0