Mouse!

Yep, after surviving the Russian Olympic Mice that hounded me in Lake Louise, swearing that no mouse would ever get into my lovely, mouse-free home in Edmonton, one snuck in. There have been a lot of door issues of late, and I'm assuming it literally just walked in, saw all of our crap and thought it stumbled across mouse heaven. 

He was wrong. 

It's been suggested that he may have actually been the same rodent who first eluded me in Lake Louise, but he didn't seem to have patchy hair.... 

I had traps set everywhere. Three kinds of traps. Five gallon pails with a bit of water in the bottom and a handy ramp so they could quietly fall to their death. 

I used barley, peanut butter, almond butter, chocolate syrup, cheese, cheese whiz, raisins, anything I could think of to lure that sucker in, but nothing worked. 

For weeks he scurried around infecting everything in my house and leading me to gut my kitchen, bleach every surface possible and toss anything that may have been contaminated.

My kitchen was a disaster.

My husband wasn't home for much of this infestation, and when he was, I'd love to say he was helpful... but he was definitely the epitome of Canadiana. Picture a Mountie, holding a hockey stick, preparing to slap shot it into the wall if it appeared. Canadian, eh?! 

Helpful? Nay.

I was on my own.

I caught nothing but a three and a half year old. 

Luckily, I caught her with a sticky trap....

So, I called in the pros. I'm not real proud of it. I would have been the first to die on Hunger Games based on my trapping abilities, but when he was caught, I still hummed 'Eye of the Tiger' for the next week.

Now, my house is mouse free. The kitchen is put back together and I got a spring cleaning like none other done. I guess it worked out.

If you ever run into a mouse who refuses to be trapped, apparently chocolate icing is the trick.... who knew.