The Rest of the Story

With a little tap on my door and an uncertain shrill in her voice I was awaken by Jessica this morning. By the child-like excitement in her voice I wondered if it was Christmas morning and if there were presents downstairs for us from Santa. But Jessica's news didn't include anything about Christmas, Santa, or presents, but of the possibility of the mouse being caught. Although she wasn't sure because she was too scared to open the car door. I rolled over to see what time it was, 7:30am. "You've got to be kidding me!" was my next thought. Then reality hit me. "The mouse that we've been trying so hard to catch might be caught finally. Sweet, a new pet!" I jumped out of bed, slipped on my chacos (which make the world go 'round), grabbed my camera, and headed down the stairs towards the garage.

Jessica again stood in the doorway of the garage waiting to hear the verdict of my findings. I peered in through the window and saw that there was definitely a mouse stuck to the sticky pad. I greeted him this morning with a nice little, "Hi little guy!" I thought I could see him breathing and the prospect of him still being alive was exciting to me. I opened the door to find disappointment in my hopes. The "little guy" was dead. We had finally outsmarted him, but it took his poor little life in the process.

Putting all the evidence together we concluded that he had gotten into the rodent poison, for he made a mess of it on the floor in the front seat, then realizing how awful it tasted went to the back to eat some yummy peanut butter he had tasted and loved the previous day. But when the mouse trap snapped down over his head he frantically squirmed, racing backwards to try to get out of the trap but ended up running right onto the sticky pad locking him into place. With no chance of getting out, despite his thrashing efforts, he ended up sufficating to death. Out of all the options he had to chose from he chose 3 of the 4 options. Our little friend did not choose wisely. (Sad day!)

Jessica was thoroughly relieved that he was caught so he could be disposed of. Her remarks included, "It feels good to get rid of rodents. What a great way to start a Saturday morning!" Being the one who got to do the dirty work of cleaning up his little body my heart went out to him and some sadness for his passing was felt in my heart.

Below are the pictures of the progressive events that took place in this tragic mouse drama story.

Warning: Some content may not be suitable for children. Viewer discretion is advised. Proceed at your own risk.

The rodent poison and a sticky pad on the floor of the the front passenger side.

Two mouse clamps with peanut butter, a sticky pad, and the metal mouse trap box.

This is me opening up the car door after confirming that there was indeed a mouse stuck to a sticky pad.

Our findings once the door was open. The little guy wasn't breathing like I had thought, but in fact his head was clamped shut in a trap!

Just like a dishwasher that is stopped on the rinse cycle before getting the chance to dry the dishes, I was awaken this morning before my beauty sleep cycle was finished (as you can see in the above picture). Anyway, this is me holding three traps, after taking it out of the car, that were all connected to one other by this mouse.

This is how close Jessica would come to the mouse. She kept her distance.

This is my sad face. I really did feel sad that this poor little guy was dead. I mean, how would you like coming upon something that contained your favorite treat inside tempting and luring you into it and then out of no where WHACK it comes clamping down around your head only to leave you to sufficate to death? Yeah, that's what I thought. Glad you understand and take sympathy for this little guy as well.

An above shot showing how this little guy spent the last minutes of his life.

Another shot depicting the clamps awful grasp around this little guy's neck. Aren't his little ears that are sticking out cute?

I had to rip the sticky pad off of the metal box. If you look closely you can see mouse hair around surrounding the mouse; evidence of a struggle.

Before the clamp came off.

You can see here how vicious this clamp is. All it took was a tsp. of peanut butter. What this mouse's life worth a tsp. of peanut butter?

This picture represents quite well the immense pressure of the clamp around his head. You can see exactly where it snapped.

One last good look at our little guy before he entered his plastic bag coffin. Aww, look at those eyes.

Jessica and I solemly walked out to the dumpster together to say our goodbyes to our dear little friend who graced us with his presence, giving us a challenge, and then giving his life for the cause. My he Rest In Peace.