An Unexpected Co-pilot

This past Sunday morning I went out to my car to get something out of the back seat. I noticed on the floor of the passenger there were a bunch of small pieces of Kleenex. They looked like they were spilled out of something. I asked John if he had been in my car and if he had made the mess. He said no, so I was like 'whatever.' MISTAKE NUMBER ONE. Now don't you think I should have been a little bit more curious how a bunch of shredded Kleenex wound up in my car? I wasn't. I just ignored it. I seriously can't believe myself sometimes.

Later on in the afternoon after John and I cleaned out the garage I went to my trunk to put some stuff in it for Goodwill. I remember I still had a few items left in it from my trip that I needed to clean out. I first saw some brown fuzzy fabric intertwined in my jumper cables. That is weird, I thought since I didn't remember seeing that before.

Then I lean over to take out a Ziploc plastic bag that contained some uncooked dough. (I was given some 'friendship' bread on my trip. You make the bread after 21 days and then make new bags of dough to your friends...or something like that). As I pick up the bag I noticed it had leaked in my trunk. Dang it! I purposely used two zip lock bags to avoid it leaking. That worked real great. Then I notice that there was a hole in the bags like something had CHEWED through them!

John comes by asses the scene and announces that it looks like I've got a mouse in my car. SAY WHAT? I instantly opened all the doors and started searching for the little sucker. I made John look under my seats as I did not want to see the guy eye to eye and of course we didn't have any luck finding him.

The next morning I had John go check my car to see if he saw any new developments. I waited in the house as I still in my towel after showering, (standing discreetly by the window so the neighbors couldn't get a peep show).

John noticed a bit more stuffing under the passenger seat and the noticed that the floor mat underneath it had a big curved in it and was not laying flat. He moved the mat, saw more stuffing and even the little dude's butt and tail! After I heard he was still alive, I ran into my room and got dressed as fast as I could.

Once I got out to the crime scene I moved the passengers side seat forward and it uncovered a HUGE nest made out of some sort of stuffing, (I'm assuming from my car seat), and a ton of Kleenex. It was about a foot long, which fit perfectly under the curved floor mat. I couldn't not believe it! I was so mortified!! So mortified in fact that I didn't even run and get my camera.

I left all of my car doors open in hoping that the little guy wanted to go home to nature. However I had to leave in a half hour, and I did NOT want to drive my car! I was so worried that the little guy might decided to crawl over my foot or up my leg while I was driving. Or I'd look over to my right and see the little fella sitting in my purse just enjoying the ride. Fortunately neither happened.

I picked up two different kinds of traps and that night. The first kind we used had these little black plastic covers that would somewhat cover up the carnage. We place a nice helping of peanut butter on them and placed one near the passenger seat and one in the trunk.

I awoke this morning like a kid on Christmas! I could not wait to see if we caught that little bugger. I tip toed over to the car and slowly looked into the window afraid to see some gore, and I saw NOTHING! In fact I saw TWO CLEAN traps with NO peanut butter! I could not believe it! I was so mad! The rodent totally out smarted us. He probably couldn't believe that someone was nice enought to set out a peanut butter buffet for his enjoyment.

Before John went to work I had him set the old fashioned traps, (which were the other kind we bought.) I was out in the field all day with John today checking out houses and when we came back the traps were still in place...BUT the peanut butter was still there. I'm really hoping the trespasser is nocturnal and hopefully he will get his tonight. Granted I would love it if he would just escape and run free...away from our house that is.

So where did this guy come from you ask? Well I think he must have hitched a ride when I was at Rebekkah's in Ukiah. She lives around a lot of foliage and she even told me that she often finds dead mice in her dog's water bowl. What kills me is that he has been living in my car at least since LAST Thursday! We are going on 6 days and it could even be longer! Did he enjoy traveling with me for 7+ hours? Did he think he was Ralph S. Mouse on the adventure of a lifetime?
I will definitely keep you posted, but let me tell you that there better be a death in my car tomorrow morning! I'm tired of being stranded in my own home!