My apologies to Ricky Martin. I’m sure the subject of this column is not at all what he had in mind when he sang his 1999 hit.
But the song title seems most appropriate to my life right now so I’m going with it.
Frequent blog readers know we are under a mouse siege at our house right now. After a rather unfortunate series of events (mouse poop in places it does not belong - which is ANYWHERE in my house), I decided that more than one or two casual traps were needed to remedy the situation.
I went to the mouse trap store. I stocked up. I went home and began a highly scientific project with the goals of A) catching mice B) finding out what bait catches the most mice C) not catching malinois.
I suspected C might be the most difficult since Phoenix is all about mouse traps. Experience has taught him that mouse traps often lead to VERY fun human behavior. I am careful to always set them with the baited trigger pointed away from inquisitive Belgian noses. More than once, I've caught him nudging them repeatedly, leaping into the air when they snap, then looking at me like "COOL! Make it do that again!"
So far, all efforts have been successful. I have caught a lot of mice. I have caught mice using peanut butter, dog treats (Zuke’s, for the record), Purina Cat Chow and, although it’s a cliché, cheese. I have not caught a malinois.
Oh no. The malinois has not been snapped on the nose. He’s obviously smarter than that. He knows where every single trap in the house is set. He waits until the trap catches the mouse, then he springs into action.
Springs.
Dives.
Grabs.
Bolts.
Disappears.
You get the picture.
Phoenix has taken to snatching mouse traps and absconding with them.
I have done some crazy things in my life. (Feel free to substitute stupid for crazy. It’s usually appropriate.) Until last week, I had never tried to get a mousetrap, with deceased mouse securely attached, away from a dog who was experiencing a great deal of mental conflict about A) wanting to be left alone long enough to figure out how to get the mouse out of the %$#@! trap and eat it and B) knowing this was never, ever, ever going to happen so he might as well just give up now.
Welcome to my world.
What do normal people do with their time?
well, since you asked, we boil water so we can have a hot bath because our water heater has been broken since Friday. uh, huh. rural life is fun. I think I like what you do with your time better...
ReplyDeleteAll of us dog people are normal - the others are abnormal.....
ReplyDeleteI don't know what normal people do either but it made a great story!
ReplyDeleteI had a Beardie who used to mouse. No, seriously. He had no interest in traps, but scurrying rodents (in our apartment at the time which, thanks to next door neighbours who from the smell never washed their dishes or anything else, was infested) were apparently endlessly fascinating. He even caught one once, bodyslamming it to its demise.
ReplyDeleteIt all came to an abrupt end when one night he was flying through at high speed adn caught a paw in the cable to the bread machine, which had been in use earlier that evening. I'm not sure if it was the resulting crash, or the escape of his furry prey which turned him off forever, but he never moused much after that.... ;)
Your blog is brilliant (and hilarious) reading!
What do normal people do? We read your blog Baaahaaaaaw! too funny enjoyed this one and the camera one. keep writing you really should do a book.:)
ReplyDelete