One of the selling points of our house is that it is right across the street from a huge field that the village owns and maintains. It’s pretty in every season. But the drawback of this field is that every year, when it first gets cold, one mouse chooses our house to live in. And every year, so far, we have set one mousetrap in the basement, and the offender has been lured by peanut-butter-based lust to his DOOM. This year, we again have a mouse, but he is sly. We have set traps in several parts of the house, but he has not fallen captive to peanut butter, cheese, or dog food. (Anyone have any suggestions about good mouse bait?) We also have laid out little poison food packets, but he has not so much as touched them. He HAS pulled some insulation out of the walls and tossed it about the basement, and he HAS stolen some dog food from my dog and left it here and there. And despite this, I wasn’t really creeped out, because, you know, it’s just a mouse, and I NEVER SAW HIM. And frankly, that’s the most important part. I have never seen any of the mice until they were safely in the traps. This year, though, this sly mouse has decided it might be fun to TAUNT me, because he his NOT afraid of me at ALL. So today, I’m at home, crocheting and watching Maury Povich. Suddenly, I hear this little scritchety-scratchety noise from behind the couch. I stop and listen for a moment, and I heard rustling, busy little tiny noise. I am certain that mice make this noise with their DEADLY GNASHING TEETH. So, I gracefully (or not, maybe) leapt from the sofa, and ran to the stairs, where I stood screaming and trembling for several minutes, until the puzzled look the dog was giving me convinced me that really, I should just go check it out. What else was there to do? So, I stood on the front edge of the sofa (optimal for quick get-away) and peeked over the back. Nothing. Then, I decided I had to do the worst; check under the cushions. I carefully peeled them back (and flung them over my head, screaming, just in case) but there was no mouse to be seen. I looked under the sofa, and all around; Nothing. I was CERTAIN that he was gone, so I calmed down (a little bit anyway) and went back to watching Maury. A few minutes later, the dog starts barking like a madman, and running at Darryl’s shell of an office, a notorious hangout for THIS mouse. The dog was going crazy; sniffing the kitchen doorway, the dining room, and all around the office. I was freaking out; should I let him catch the mouse? What if it has rabies or something equally nasty? Or what if it hurts my big baby of a dog? And, also THERE’S A MOUSE WITHIN 20 FEET OF ME!! Suddenly, the dog’s head snaps up, he looks STRAIGHT AT ME, and he starts RUNNING TOWARDS ME, and barking like he’s trying to save me, and I think, well, what else is there to think? CLEARLY THERE IS A MOUSE IN MY HAIR!!! So I run, and scream, and pat my head, and run and twirl, and pat myself down in that creepy-crawly way, when mid-spin, I look out the bay window and see….. Fed Ex. My dog was barking at Fed Ex. And the Fed Ex man was looking back at me, through my window. So. Do you think he saw my creepy-crawly dance? :)