Requiem for Rodents

Suzy called me late in the evening yesterday saying "Oh my GOD, oh my GOD."

To back up a little... the other night she looked in her work tote bag. There was a cheap granola bar there, and an expensive one. She discovered that apparently a mouse had chewed into the foil and eaten part of the cheap one; even mice don't want the health store granola bars.

Mice in her coat closet, not a good thing.

She called her building's staff and they left her a couple of sticky traps. I believe she said they are "8 ball" or some insane brand like that. No poison, no snappy things in apartment buildings. Eeesh. I pointed out that the traps that close around the victim are much more effective ( - except for one mouse I had, who ALMOST got away. I am still haunted by the image of the trap closed directly down the center of his skull, and his bulging little beady eye.)

So the OMG OMG was upon coming home to find out that Senor Mickey had gotten stuck (eating more of the same kind of granola bar, which she will never eat again now...) and was thrashing around and dragging the trap and pooping and so on. Niiiiiiice.

You have to understand that someone who routinely takes care of tiny one- or two- pound babies found a tiny dying mouse to be unsettling. I tried my best to comfort her, using words like "vermin" "rodent" "fleas" and Hantavirus.

Eventually the mouse went to that great big... dumpster in the parking lot.... to freeze to death. "Just go to sleep," she whispered. "... it will be over soon. Eat the rest of that granola bar."



PS: Brownies can NOT be made with olive oil.