Do you smell a rat?

Rusty sleeping soundly on my bed, oblivious to the rukus outside.

As the workers were cleaning up the warehouse over the weekend, a mouse scurried out of the store and ran into our house. Nothing to fret about really... it's something you get used to living in the countryside. I can say I'm no longer alarmed by the sound of mice racing across the ceiling boards in the middle of the night.

Not my mum. She's so bothered by that mouse, she started bugging me and dad to get her a mouse trap day and night. It's not something you can buy from the supermarket you know. You can only find it in the hardware stores. She got upset when I return home from my shopping trips without the mouse trap. So finally, to appease her, I drove out to the hardware store and bought her one. It's a boxy one made of wire mesh, with a hook inside where you can put some bait. When the mouse tugs at the food, it releases the spring and the door shuts, trapping it inside.

Of course, there is the other classic one which snaps onto the body, like the ones you see in Tom and Jerry show. But I think that's so cruel. I like mice you know, especially the smaller ones. Have you seen how adorable the face is?

What happens when the mouse is trapped in the cage? Well, we usually bring it to the far end of our farm and release it in the grassland. Who knows if they'll come back to the store and into the house again but it's more humane. I have seen how some coffee shop owners blanch the poor creature in hot water. Oh, that's just too cruel.

When Rusty sees the mouse in the cage, he gets all excited and would bark at the creature incessantly. One time, he pushed the wire cage around the yard for hours and ended up with a bruised snout. His black snout started peeling until it turned pink. It must have hurt quite a bit but he never learns. He'll do the same thing all over again I'm sure.

Anyway, mum set the trap in the kitchen last night in anticipation of a big one. This morning, she found the bait (dried anchovies) all gone but no big mouse inside. Later she saw a tiny one in the living room and chased it around with a broom, summoning Rusty for help. The mouse escaped yet again and Rusty...well, he was sound asleep on my bed. What kind of a mouse catcher is he?

I'm sure mum will update me on her mouse catching antics when I get home today. Stay tuned.