Mouse Trap!

James - So there is really not much to write about here. Things have been blissfully quiet and the days are just passing by. I will be coming home in December for two weeks from the 8th to the 22nd. Those dates can always change depending on how long it takes me to get outta here.

It's sad that I will not be home for Christmas, but my main request for leaving in December was to be home for our anniversary on December 21st. I got what I mainly wanted so things aren't too bad.

One thing keeping me entertained for the last few weeks is mice. Well, mostly just trying to kill mice. The first mouse I killed was in a guard tower. It had chewed through a little box milk and was drinking it. It's days ended just as a water bottle came down on it's head. I found a second mouse doing the same thing about an hour later, but he got away.

I've really enjoyed the hot plate and food that Tami sent me. One night I awoke to an unfamiliar noise in my room. It happened to be a mouse eating through a packet of ramen. I threw the ramen away and thought that the mice would leave me along. I was wrong. The next night the mouse chewed through a cup-o-noodles. Needless to say I was getting kinda upset at loosing food to a mouse.

I was able to find a mouse trap and I had the perfect bait. In our MRE's (Meal Ready to Eat) there is a little peanut butter dessert bar. I took some of that and put it as bait. To my dismay I came back to find the mouse trap sprung, but no mouse, and no peanut butter. At this point I decided to take pictures and I changed the bait from peanut butter to a cheese cracker.

Next thing I knew the mouse had gotten the cracker without springing the trap.

Next I got another MRE and used the peanut butter again. This time I made sure that I got it all around the thing that springs the trap (what is it called?).

If I had room to jump for joy in my little cubby hole I would have. Instead I laughed out loud and threw the mouse away. I had finally won.

I didn't know if I could get any more mice, but I decided to try. They actually crawl through the boards that make up my roof and they jump down on this little shelf. The last mouse didn't get off all the peanut butter during his last meal so I just reset the trap with what was left on it.

Once again the mice win. The peanut butter was gone and the trap had not been strung! How do they do that!

I reset the trap again, making sure to get the peanut butter in there good and tight so that in an effort to get it out, the trap would have to spring.

The next two pictures show my second mouse. Once again I was so proud of myself. I've got my own little mouse slaughter house. I'll teach 'em to eat my food.

The trap is set again, but for the past few days nothing has happened. I'm considering moving it to a different location and cleaning up all that loose ramen. Then I can actually use the shelf again.

I can just picture my Mom saying, "He was so pleased with himself." And I am. I really am. I outsmarted a small rodent that barely has a brain worth noticing, why shouldn't I be proud?