Hey, hey, hey . . . it’s Monday. I could say something about how I can’t believe it’s here already and where did the weekend go but that would be redundant since Monday . . . well, Monday. My weekend was good and full of the usual weekend things: good food and drink, time with Dale, relaxing outside, reading both inside and outside, a really fun photo shoot, and some gardening. My weekend also included one very unusual thing and that’s what I’m going to tell you about today.
To set the scene: Saturday morning in my kitchen. I’m tidying up a bit and getting ready to do some journaling. As part of this tidying up I went to put my knitting bag in my pocketbook. My pocketbook hangs on a hook on a coat rack in the back corner of our kitchen and as I reached up and put the bag in there a mouse scampered across the ledge at the top of the coat rack. A rather large mouse. Of course I jumped and shrieked like a little girl and dashed across the kitchen. It’s not that I’m afraid of mice, exactly, it’s more that they are fast and generally startle me with their unexpected appearance. Well. And they are rodents.
I make a phone call to Dale, who is out, and tell him it’s time to set up the mouse traps again since, clearly, they aren’t completely gone. (Did I tell you our final death toll last month was 15? Yes. 15 mice. IN my HOUSE.)
I settle down to finish my journaling.
I read outside for a bit.
I meditate.
I eat lunch.
Dale comes home.
I pack my camera bag and prepare to leave for my photo shoot.
So. Because I have my camera bag I don’t actually need my pocketbook but I do need the blue zippered pouch that’s in my pocketbook as it contains my driver’s license and debit card and some cash. I take my pocketbook down off the hook and put it on the kitchen table. I reach in for the zippered pouch (have you figured out yet where this is going?) and the mouse comes jumping out of my pocketbook!
Leaping, really.
And as she jumps onto the kitchen table and then takes off across the kitchen I look into my bag and I see baby mice.
Let me repeat that: baby mice. IN my POCKETBOOK!
And I lose it and I run RUN across the kitchen. That would have been fine if I hadn’t been wearing flip flops. Running in flip flops? NOT a good idea. So I trip and I fall (by this time I’m in the dining room) and I land on my hands and knees. Ouch.
I haul myself up and I dash outside where Dale is mowing the lawn. He sees my face and shuts off the lawn mower and looks at me quizzically and I say . . . wait for it . . .
I know where the mouse is.
The rest of the story doesn’t end so well for those 5 baby mice. Or the mother. I won’t go into details, I’ll just say that I left for my photo shoot and when I got back they . . . weren’t here anymore.
It’s going to be a long ass time before I can reach into my pocketbook without flinching.
Okay, I am literally having a panic attack all the way over here with you. Mice, in your pockebook, wait… isn’t that a Dr. Seuss book???
I do not like mice, not here or there or ANYWHERE!
And, dear Mason – you have one job…. just sayin’
I’ve had a boa constrictor placed around my neck in front of 550 kids at school by some crazy animal presenter and didn’t flinch (until its head started to go between my legs!)…no problem. But I’m am irrationally petrified of mice!!! I’m having heart palpitations just reading this!!! Oh dear God!!!
My exact words at the crucial juncture of this tale were,”Eeeeeuuuuuw!” In retrospect, yep, that covers it. You’re getting a new bag, right?!
OMG! I’m laughing so hard that I’m crying! And – yes – you deserve a new purse.
WORD!!!!!!!! eek. eek! This would be a wonderful animated feature…you know, like a cartoon! I am laughing and screeching! GO out and get yourself a new fancy pocketbook, something that won’t have you flinching when you reach inside. You deserve it!
OMG!! Not only a new bag, but a new place to keep it I think. I remember once opening a summer house on a lake in VT only to find mice had nested in the oven…there were a ton of them. Thank God I was young and my mother handled it all – lol.
Oooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh, jumping up and down, picturing your face, thanking the ever living Lord it wasn’t me! New bag!
I am no wuss but I don’t like rodents in my house and much less in my purse. eeeeeew. Time for an extra cat in the house?
You deserve a new pocketbook! Oh, I am laughing so hard that I can hardly drink my coffee! My sister has mouse problems and I can’t wait to tell her your story!
This is one of my worst nightmares come to life.
Please know that being freaked out by mice is totally rational! They are destructive, quick as a streak of light, and love scaring women. Little buggers! I agree that a new pocketbook is in order!
I agree that you NEED a new purse—-one with a really secure (read “Mouseproof”) zipper!
I am not scared of mice, but if I found them in my purse or booksack…..we would have to talk….so maybe a new purse is a GREAT idea.
Definitely a zipper bag! I can see this whole sensation happening as if I was there! So funny in the reselling but NOT! I opened an outdoor closet once to see a little nest with ten baby mice in it, but never inside, never in my purse. I feel for you!
I meant scenario, and I also hope you are ok after your fall. Hugs.
OH my Goodness!! As I read through your post, I giggled a little, gasped, and then shrieked. All with you and in my head! New handbag without doubt. And maybe another cat.
Thanks for sharing your ordeal.
Oh, couldn’t stop laughing–& cringing at the visuals! And yet no pictures!
You need a house snake. Or a very hungry cat. Or perhaps a house weasel? (Yes, I know, I know, I’m just trying to be helpful.)
More helpfully, I hope, if you’re still feeding the birds, stop. It’s amazing how much birdseed the little furry darlings can go through. And birdseed attracts bears – you REALLY don’t want a bear in your kitchen.
Oh, I am so sorry that happened to you. We had a mouse climb into our Keurig water tank at our lake house and drown. I am so glad that it was my brother-in-law who found the bloated carcass and not me. Needless to say, my Keurig went in the trash. Nasty, dirty little things. And now I need a new way to make coffee at the lake.
I figured out the mouse in the pocketbook part ahead of time but didn’t guess that the mouse was not just large, but about to give birth! That was pretty startling for me, reading along in your blog post, so I can only imagine what it was like for you! 😀
Did you hurt yourself in the fall? I hope not. We have an old house and the mice seem to find their way into our fieldstone cellar. My husband places the packages of decon pellets in various locations. The mice eat them and never come back. Here is an Amazon link but you can buy it at Home Depot and other places…it’s actually in my grocery store! http://www.amazon.com/Ready-Bait-Bits-Mice-Brodifacoum/dp/B00DMC9644/ref=pd_bxgy_86_img_2?ie=UTF8&refRID=0TMXVD0B0Y7K6RRTRCKE
Oh.My.GOD!!
Holy crap. I would have lost my shit too. And I apologize for giggling at your story. That just means it’s well written, right?
Thanks for a great laugh. Reminds me of the day a sicko who used to work with us left a dead mouse in the purse drawer. Since then I have only washable purses. Hope the fall wasn’t serious.
Hahahaha!!! Oh thank you for the best laugh of the day!!
Ugh. Not the kind of surprise one needs in her pocketbook. . . (I had a similar experience with my gardening clogs. My OLD gardening clogs. The ones I won’t wear anymore.)
oh my! I am glad you found the source (and obliterated it!) but I wish you hadn’t had to get quite so up close to it all! Hope there was a good recovery cocktail after the photo shoot!
I would have gone all muppet-arm flaying. We had a terrible mouse problem when I lived was in high school, and found a nest in my clothes drawer-not fun!
Mice really freak me out. I can handle bugs and spiders and all that (except for big flies) but mice, no. We had an invasion this winter. They got into our pantry and kitchen. We would find chewed away packaging especially near sweet things like bags of brown sugar. It was freaking me out and my husband put traps on the shelves which made me afraid to go looking for anything. One had gotten into my bag and eaten part of a wrapped granola bar. Now I zip my bag up. The mice are gone for now, but I trust they’ll be back. Hope yours are gone from your items!
I read all about the mouse without flinching, but falling onto your hands and knees? I have a visceral response to that — ouch! We found some baby mice once, but NOT in my purse. https://kmkat.wordpress.com/2011/09/14/mouse-continued/
What Vicki said… Oh. My. God. I would have been just screaming my head off. And I would throw that pocketbook away immediately. Hope you’re okay.