They're in Cohoots I tell ya!

We live in an older building that was remodeled by the hands of an amateur with the direction of his expert Father in law and friends. I am surprised I still have friends and that my father in law still speaks to me. It couldn't have been easy. Still, with our very limited budget which consisted of "what can we scrounge?", to say it could still stand some improvement would be an understatement. One area is insulation. We have serious drafts. So besides the loss of heat and the expense, there is another equally disturbing problem. All the rodents in the surrounding area recognize a nice warm possible home. I have two cats. I have many mouse traps but now the rabbits and squirrels are getting into the act. One of my two cats is quite adept at catching all of the above, however neither cat could be called perfect at killing what they catch. I have had at least one squirrel living in my attic for some time. I just didn't realize that said squirrel is indeed the leader of the gang. He has the mice doing his bidding.
I have a furnace/hot water heater/ storage area. It shares a wall with my bedroom. I have heard the parties the rodents throw. Deciding that the squirrel must be the first to go (thereby confusing all of his underlings), My wife bought me a set of traps. Live traps. She's soft hearted, and hey, I'm not crazy about the mess, so okay; live traps it is. They came as a set with one large enough for a large cat for small lap dog, one that would be the right size for the squirrel and a larger one for say a family of four to live in when they give up their house to the rodents...

I followed the directions, (I'm secure enough in my manhood to read directions before I mess things up. It doesn't prevent me from messing up it just gives me a ready excuse.) I baited with peanuts and set the trigger.

The next day I check the trap to find the peanuts gone and the trap unsprung. No squirrel. No mice. No peanuts. I don't believe the trap is functioning properly. (I come to this conclusion because there is no squirrel in it. Clever aren't I?) So, I tinker. I reset the trap. Same results. Only now when I lay down to bed at night, I am sure I can hear tiny squirrel laughter somewhere.

More importantly is that my wife is getting tired of their late night parties. This was evidenced by my wife coming home the other day with bonafied rat traps. These are not mice traps. They just smash your finger if you set them wrong. No, these are spring loaded RAT traps. They will take your whole hand should you place it where you shouldn't. Evidently my wife had taken the proverbial gloves off. There was no more being humane. I have to say, I'm no longer concerned about the mess either.

I tinker more with the first trap and following the directions, I set the one of the two rat traps next to the live trap and the other rat trap I put just inside the attic access door in the pile of old nut shells I found there. I figure it must be their dining room table. This time I used peanut butter.

The next morning I check the furnace room traps and both traps look new. They cleaned the peanut butter from the trap sets so well I couldn't tell there was ever any peanut butter there. I took a broom handle and tripped the rat trap. It flew across the room!

All I can figure is the small mice must be clearing the traps and taking a share to the squirrel.

He probably made them an offer they couldn't refuse...

Numbers 6:24-26
Will