the time that i was forced into exile by a mouse

i’m almost too disgusted to write this but i figure it makes for a semi-interesting story so i will do it anyway …

so about four months ago i discovered possible evidence of a mouse in my kitchen. coming from living in the suburbs practically all of my life, this isn’t something i have become accustomed to. apparently this is commonplace for heavily urban areas as well as rural areas. i set out traps and poison in an attempt to eradicate this creature. with the help of joe, i was even able to get rid of most of the boxes i hadn’t unpacked yet. since i got back from thanksgiving i was almost 100% sure that i had gotten rid of him as i had seen no signs of him being present. this past friday i even went so far as to declare him gone and that i had won the war against him. apparently i was wrong.

early this morning at about 3am joe and i awoke to a scratching noise. at first i thought it was something outside since it was very windy. after a few minutes it became clear that it was something in the wall. freaked out, i examined every inch of my apartment for any sign that a mouse had returned. after finding none, i climbed back into bed only to continue to hear the noise. at this point i was beyond freaked out. this is something i’ve never had to deal with and it grosses me out beyond belief. at this point i turned on the heat which in turn starts the process of water from the boiler flowing through the pipes in the wall down to the floor space heaters. i figured the water noise would scare whatever was in the walls enough to run away. sure enough it stopped.

three hours later … i hear the noise again but this time it’s coming from a different part of the wall. it stops.

two hours later … it’s now about 830am and the scratching noise in the original location starts up again. at this point i’m beyond freaked out and annoyed. there’s no way i was going to fall back asleep so i tell joe to pack everything up and before we knew it we were on the way to his place in indiana.

so here i am. living in exile from my own apartment. i’m sitting in joe’s living room in indiana worried about returning to the scene tomorrow evening. at this point i have determined that what i assume to be a mouse, is trapped in the wall. the fact that i have never heard that noise prior to last night and the fact that it didn’t seem to move locations is strong evidence that i am hopefully correct. my plan is to return home tomorrow evening to peaceful walls. if not then i figure i will stay at joe’s the rest of the week and just commute in to the city every day for work and then i’m off for two weeks so i can figure a solution out during that period of time (all the while staying far away from there).

in even more exciting news … six more days of work and then i’m off for nearly two weeks. i have no idea what i’m going to do during all that time but i’m sure i will come up with something. i suppose my big task for the break will be to finish painting all of my mini-canvases and arrange those on the wall.

that’s all i have for now.