I can only hope.

Still no sign of the varmint. Mouse. Critter. The cats aren't sniffing around or freaking out, I haven't found any droppings or chewed paper or food packaging. ?? Do mice ever die of natural causes? Maybe he was just visiting and didn't like the reception he got. It's not like the cats weren't excited to see him or anything, but ... maybe he wanted a greeting that was a little more low key.

Whatever. I'm keeping my eye out but I'm hoping he took a hike.

WHAT was it thinking???

I could hear Norah scratching around in the kitchen and I could tell it was different than her normal weirdness. Going in there to investigate I found her scratching around the base of a free-standing pantry I have, first one side and then the other. I watched for a minute and remarked "oh Norah, did you find a spider??" She was excited, I could tell. She started scratching on the side against the wall where I had slid some paper shopping bags so I pulled the bags out to hopefully help Norah find her prize. After all, whatever she wants to be chasing isn't something I want in my house.

I was holding the shopping bags in one hand and a flash light in the other, looking between the pantry and the wall and I couldn't see anything. Nothing alive anyway. Norah looked at me and kind of kitty-whined at me. So I shook the shopping bag to get the cobwebs off it and whoops! Out dropped an itty bitty tiny little black MOUSE. Now in the interest of full disclosure here, I am not afraid of mice. I will get skeeved out much more quickly if there is a spider involved. And while I know I don't want mice in my house, they are unclean and their droppings carry disease, it doesn't stop me from thinking they're cute. It makes me sad because this little guy must die.

Norah chased it (like it needed to be chased at that point) into the utility room where the washer and dryer and 3 ginormous litter boxes live. There was no way I was going to catch it in there, once it got under or behind the washer and dryer - well - the mouse is way faster than I am. It won. For now.

Sigh-h-h. The bad thing about mice is that they can get into a house so easily - and once they do - they are hard to get out. And I hate killing them - maybe I'll use a no-kill trap, we'll see. But oh my gosh I have 4 cats! While they are pretty useless at actually killing insects and the like, they sure will detect something like that in the house! What was that little guy thinking when he came in here? I know, it's warm. But there are 4 cats! Didn't this little mouse have any sense of smell at all?

So it begins. Looking for mouse poop, anything chewed on or scattered where it shouldn't be. I will have to figure out what to do about the cat food - since that is the only food product that is even close to the ground in my house.

When I saw the mouse honestly - my first thought was - oh no, this is going to take some work. Ugh. My son is completely unfazed and appears perfectly willing to live with a mouse or mice in the house. Not a problem for him. So I will become - the mouse hunter - da da da dum!!! Except without the leotard or cape. Wish me luck.


**Added - That only food that pantry holds is cat food in cans. Otherwise it is mostly plastic containers, paper towels, garbage bags, etc. If he's looking for something to eat in there, he's out of luck!