Mission Not Accomplished

Outsmarted by a rodent. I came upstairs this morning, with my wad of paper towels in hand, ready to cover the body by dropping them on top. I would have bet $100 there would be a dead one in there. I had rehearsed in my mind how I would first cover it and then gingerly pick the trash bag out -- the easiest way to close the drawstring blah blah blah. I was surprised.

So my goal is to take a positive action so today I called the building management. The manager for this building is this young crusty Italian guy whom I genuinely like -- the kind of guy who has seen it all. He wasn't there, but I talked to his assistant and explained my situation. I want them to have the exterminator re-poison the basement, and I also want to hear Peter's recommendation on whether paying someone for mouseproofing is worth it.

Maybe I'll compile a book on everyone's mouse tales, but who'd want to read it? Remember there was that viral photo a number of years back with a mouse who got caught in a printer? My manicurist told me yesterday two stories: Some friends of hers got so frustrated trying to get rid of one mouse that they gave up, called it a pet and gave it a name. Would let the mouse eat off the kitchen counter. Ok, I'm not going that route.

Second story was recently taking her daughter to the Bronx Zoo and there's an exhibit called the Mouse House with different kinds of mice from all over the world. Don't want to go there either. But she said when she and her daughter were in the Mouse House, this woman starts yelling, "Let's get out of here. If I wanted to see mice, I could have stayed home." Yeah, sister, I'm with you.

The only saving grace is that there was no mouse droppings in my garbage so maybe the mouse took the night off. I'm going to keep the glue trap there tonight. I'm thinking of putting a tiny dollop of peanut butter in the center.