Mouse Mobile

Dear Nature,

Take a HIKE!!!

There are days when I have had it with Mother Nature. Sure, I am apperceive of all of God's beautiful creations. But the wonder ends when the not so beautiful starts to get personal.

And having a mouse

IN MY CAR,

is about as personal as it gets.

I noticed the tell-tale signs that I had an issue. And they were none too pretty. One of Walker's bottles had the nipple chewed off. There were droppings on the floor. I noticed a smell.

And I went crazy.

I ripped the car apart. I searched for that little idiot high and low. I washed or threw away everything that had been in the car. I scrubbed the carpet, polished the leather, turned the thing inside out.

All of this done in total disgust, and... no mouse!

I thought wow, maybe he left!

But just to be safe, we set a trap in the car. And sure enough, we caught him. Apparently, he didn't leave, but I have no idea where he was hiding. Del took care of him, I did all that cleaning once more, and all was well. I thought.

Then I went ahead and scheduled to have the car taken in for a tune-up, because it was due, and I thought it couldn't hurt to have someone check around all the nooks and crannies in the engine for a left behind mouse nest.

Clean bill of health for the car. They did find some more droppings under a seat, but that was all.

Next up, a car detail. We drove it straight from the mechanic shop to the car wash. The SUV spa day was under way! They shampooed, wiped, cleaned with Q-tips, and made the thing shine! We set a few more traps while it was at the car wash, just in case, and then had them set off a chlorine bomb inside the car to kill any smells, or anything else still alive inside. (Nightmares!)

I was a bit at the end of my rope by now. I had been without my car for several days, had spent way too much time cleaning it, and just the thought of something crawling around in there was keeping me on edge.

I got my car back with the strong scent of a chlorine bomb, which I was told would fade, and carried on with life.

Then one fateful Friday, about four days later, I ran out the door to go pick Georgia up from school.

I opened the door to put Walker in his seat,

and a mouse jumped up out of it toward me!

Now you may insert any imagery you have in your head of a person going ballistic.

I screamed, slammed the door, cried, shuddered, shook, screamed again, and again, and ran into the house.

I called Del and told him that I was going to set it on fire, drive it off a cliff, (if I ever dared get back in,) drive it to a bad Chicago neighborhood and walk away with the keys inserted in the ignition and car running...

Please, go for a really good, long, joy ride bad guy!!

Anything! I was desperate, and tired of being disgusted. We had spent a lot of time and hundreds of dollars to get rid of this mouse and it's friends, and now, it was sitting in plain sight.

I was really worried because I had to be at Georgia's school NOW!

I told Del (while crying) that I was going to be brave, and just have to bear it, and drive to get her, mouse and all. So I went back to the car and opened the door, and the mouse jumped up at me AGAIN!! And just sat there starring at my like,

"Don't you get it lady, this is my car now."

And now I officially know what it is to have a panic attack. I could not breathe. My heart was pounding, I was absolutely terrified to get within three feet of that car. I wanted to hide underneath something.

 I called all the friends that I could think of that live nearby. And no kidding, every one of them was in a doctors appointment. They probably thought I needed to see one too, because I was less than calm on the phone. Next, I ran around my neighborhood knocking on doors to see if anyone could drive me. No one was home!

I called Georgia's school and then stood on the side walk in front of my house and sobbed.

Then one of my neighbors pulled up. He is retired, and he is very kind.

He looked at me like I was acting strange. Ya think?

I walked over and between sobs, asked him to drive me to pick up Georgia. So Walker, Earl, Earl's massive black lab, and I loaded up in his car and started off.

I put Walker in a booster seat I had in the garage. When Earl asked me if he was big enough for that, I kind of melted down again, telling him I  could not, would not, open that door again, or put Walker in that seat! That ended that line of questioning.

Walker rode in the back with the snout of a black lab one inch from his face.

Halfway there, one of my friends called back and said she was now pulling into the parking lot at Georgia's school, so just go back home, and she would bring her to me.

When we got back, I ashamedly asked Earl to back my car out of the garage. I could not go anywhere near it. But I did not feel as dumb when Earl, who is Mr. Outdoors himself, did a thorough search before getting in, to make sure the mouse would not jump on him.

I called an exterminator to see if he could help me. But he was the opposite of helpful when he told me that he could not do anything, but I better find a solution, because each mouse could have five pups, and they could have five pups, and the cycle goes on.

 I did pretty well not losing it on the phone.

I worked up my courage about an hour later, slathered some peanut butter on a trap and tossed it in. By the time Del got home, the mouse was on the trap. Del and the kids took care of it. Wally even recorded the mouse's last few minutes on the drive to get rid of him on the flip video, and it is pretty hilarious. I would post it, but I don't want PETA after me for not relocating the mouse with a fully furnished pad waiting for him.

Del took the car and cleaned it all over again for me. We bought new car seats and mats. I was drained from acting like such a wimp. I did not know that I have such a fear of mice.

This is after a year of fun however. Grubs in the grass, a box elder bug infestation that came to it's peak while we were in Costa Rica and my sister and Aunt were here, a fruit fly swarm that had me up late at night using a fly swatter,  and every home remedy known to man, salamanders in the window wells, a dead mouse in the window well, hornet's nests galore... it goes on and on.

I am happy to report that my poor car has been mouse free for quit awhile now. But I am still cautious, I triple check to make sure there is nothing waiting for me when I open the door. The chlorine smell finally faded.

My mom did suggest that I get one of those family character decals for the back of my car with our family of six, and five little mice next to us. Or I guess we could just go with the "Babies On Board" bumper sticker.

I think I will hold off for a bit before I make the decal purchase, because if another mouse takes a liking to my car, I don't know that I will drive it again in this lifetime.

Nature and I just need to come to an understanding.