Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Bold as Brass, He Was...

He first made his presence known Monday morning in the predawn moments as I was in the kitchen preparing to go to school. Why he couldn't have waited a bit longer to dart from his hidey hole across the kitchen floor to the safety of the area beneath the refrigerator, I'll never understand. I alerted Paprika to the 'guest' in our home and left for work, confident that Ralph S. Mouse (that's a Beverly Cleary reference for all of you nonliterary types) would be enjoying his eternal reward by the time I arrived home. Naturally, I made sure that Sugar, Spice and I arrived home after Paprika....just trying to spare the girls the graphic image of their mother running back out of the house screaming, I mean, the image of a bloody little gray body lying broken in the trap. Well, there was no need to fear, I mean, protect the little darlings because Ralph had enjoyed a lovely lunch and was still sitting somewhere with his little feet up dreaming of his next meal. Okay. He might get lucky one time, but surely there would be a satisfying *SNAP* in the night that would put an end to this drama. Ummm, no. Not the case. So this morning I was forced to turn on every light between me and the garage in order to prevent any sneak attacks in the dark. Little did I know that Ralph was not one for sneak attacks. While we were finishing dinner this evening (after arriving home to find the trap once again empty), Paprika stepped into the kitchen to prepare his caramel apple. The girls and I were sitting at the table finishing our meal when suddenly there was a VERY LOUD crash behind us. I turned to see that Paprika had slammed a plastic bowl down on the floor upside-down. He then informed us that he had just captured the mouse. Yes, that is right. He captured the mouse WHO HAD COME OUT FROM UNDER THE FRIDGE WITH ALL OF US SITTING RIGHT THERE IN BROAD DAYLIGHT, PEOPLE! Clever man that he is, Paprika slipped the little straw connected to his can of ether underneath the bowl and sent Ralph on to the next world. He also used a similar method to put our elderly cat to sleep when she became aggressive toward Sugar, but that's a story for another post. When he removed the body from the death chamber, Spice exclaimed (in her best oochy cooochy baby talk voice) "He's such a pretty little mouse." Yeah, right. Now that he's dead. RIP Ralph.

1 comment:

palouseygoosey said...

So sorry to hear about the little visitor....but I sure do love your blog! When did your children grow up so big and tall?! Thank you for sharing your blog address with me. I'll give you mine as well and you can check in on what we're doing these days. I really should email you..... Your girls are absolutely beautiful:)