A Tale of Two Families

Once upon a time there were two families that lived in half a house. Family #1 lived on the first floor, and family #2 lived on the second and third floor. They thought they would continue to live happily every after forever. But…..
One day the mother of family #1 was making cookies. As she pulled open the pot holder drawer, because it was time to remove her wonderful, smelling cookies, she spotted a horrible mess. The potholder drawer had been turned into a “potty”, yes, my dear faithful readers, a mouse potty. She yelled for her husband to confirm her suspicion and promptly burst into tears. The husband, being brave and strong took the drawer and contents outside to the porch and dumped them out. The wife quickly began tearing apart the kitchen. The stove was slid out and a huge hole was discovered in the wall. All cabinet drawers were pulled out, and behold large holes in the wall behind the cabinets. The husband was quickly dispatched to the store for supplies; Nana was called in for reinforcement(grandson watching). This mother of family # 1 would not rest until all was right with her beautiful home. The husband returned with his supplies: Packets of poison, “great stuff” and mountain dew. Somehow this would make their small world better.
The extermination began. Stuff holes with poison packets, seal holes with “great stuff”, drink the mountain dew. Break the bad news to the mother of family #2.
The mother of family #1 went to bed that night, tired but convinced that her kitchen was once again under her control. All cupboards were clean and free of any evidence of the nasty, foul critters. All utensils had been washed all holes had been blocked. Life was better and would soon return to normal, or so she hoped.
…A couple of days went by, then terror struck again. The sweet, innocent, young daughter in family #2 was working peacefully in her bedroom on the third floor when, a foul critter scampered across her floor. Then again, as across their kitchen floor one dared to show himself.
Off to the store for more supplies, this time the items purchased were sticky traps and lots of them! As the mother of family #2 braved the third floor bedroom to set a sticky trap; what to her vigilant eyes should appear, but a dead mouse lying out in the middle of the floor. Revenge! Sweet Victory! We had won, or had we, was it possible that the same mouse had been on all three floors of this half of the house?
…Weeks went by, life went on. Family #1’s mother hoped that all was well in her fine house. Some days she would yank open a cupboard drawer and paw quickly through its contents. Other days she would crawl around on the floor looking under and behind things. Not a sign of the nasty foul creatures. All was quiet upstairs also. Life went on........Until that fateful night (tonight) when peace was again shattered. As family #1 sat peacefully at the kitchen table, the mother spotted a mouse coming from behind the refrigerator, she immediately sounded forth a warning to all in the neighborhood, jumped to her feet and whirled around putting her back to the foul creature (like this would solve anything) Her brave husband looked around in confusion, trying to figure out what had caused his normally sane wife to react in such a fashion. When the mother was finally able to speak, she stated firmly that she had spotted a mouse coming from behind the refrigerator and that he must start putting sticky traps down on the floor surrounding the refrigerator. The family again got out the packets of poison and the “great stuff” and went to work. They did discover another hole in the floor and the husband nailed a board over it. The husband then went to the basement to look for something, where upon he spotted another very young mouse lying on the basement floor not long for this world (it had been into poison or had the flu or something). He called the mother who came running with her young son and a sticky trap. Family #1 then called in Family #2 to again give them bad news. As they were standing there in the basement of their beautiful half of a house discussing their plan of attack, there across the floor runs yet another rodent. 3 of the critters in less than an hour.
So now, the first floor mother is wondering what the world is coming to. What can she do to reclaim her home? All the holes have been blocked. “Great stuff” is her new best friend. Sticky traps have been set. She wanders from room to room, looking in every corner, checking every trap, hearing little scratching sounds. She will win, she will conquer, and she will one day soon be in control of her own house.

For your information: Family #1 & Family #2 are being very careful with the packets of poison since there are young children that play in this house. The only poison that has been used in this extermination process has been carefully sealed into the walls.

Disclaimer: The wonderful cookies that were being made on the day this drama started were from a break-apart-and-cook package bought at the store.






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