Trapped

We've been in our house for two years now and other than a mouse in the garage last winter (don't get me started on him...that's a story for another day), we haven't seen hide nor hair of a critter in the house besides Trooper. Yesterday, however, when I was downstairs going out to feed the birds and squirrels, I noticed a problem...a tiny hole in a 40 pound bag of black sunflower seed and an assortment of cracked shells in a messy pile on the floor.

Damn!

All the other seed and feed are in plastic bins, but we had gotten an extra bag of the sunflower seeds because we got such a good price (you may recall our critter food shopping adventure...).  Sure enough, some crafty critter -- inside our house -- found the unprotected bag and was gobbling it up.

I'm sorry, but if you're hungry, go eat outside like everyone else!  It's not like there's a shortage of food for crying out loud.

The first thing I did when I realized what had happened was dash into the pantry to grab the overstock of cereal (another sale) and tortilla chips (which I get through work in large quantities) and lug them upstairs. No smouse is eatin' those goodies! And then I went to fetch one of the mouse traps we had just put in the garage -- last weekend of all things.

No mouse traps in the house for two years and we just happened to buy some last weekend?  There are no coincidences...

In our previous house, we had one winter episode where a mouse had gotten in and was snacking in the basement pantry.  The word pantry always makes me think of Lyle Lovett...for a little diversion, listen to Lyle sing about keeping it in the pantry -- so funny!  LOVE THIS SONG!

Now, where was I??

Right...so in the old house there was a mouse. We bought a live trap and caught the little critter and put him out in the snow. After which we caught another. Then there were babies. Caught them, too. Every single one of them alive and well and back out to pasture. And then there were none. Somehow, we managed to survive the minus three day gestation period (seriously...how do they procreate so quickly!), babies and all. Without killing a single one.

I know...but being the animal lover I am, I couldn't bear a trap that killed them.

The traps we found last weekend on an impulse buy while preparing the garage for winter were kill traps, but ones where you don't have to see them once the deed is done. Nice and convenient...and cowardly. Disposable traps for a disposable culture...which is why I'd rather just catch them live and turn them out packing.  Anyway, I put one of the kill traps down by the bird seed. And not more than 12 hours later...

...I was instrumental in killing the first non-buggy living thing in my life. :(

I'm not proud of how glad I was that it was an anonymous death.  I daintily carried the trap into the garage for T to deal with when he got home from work.

Yep, I'm one of those.

I did say a little prayer for him and wished him well on his journey to smousy heaven.  Threw in another little prayer that any future critter will locate the three live traps that are now (to T's chagrin) surrounding the area before finding the pre-tested -- and decidedly more final -- one.

And threw in a third that he was acting alone.//

What's For Dinner Tonight?
Going further on the warm salad theme (nice scene change, huh??), I made a grilled chicken wrap for dinner tonight.  It looked a bit more like a salad taco when I was done because I only had small tortillas, but it tasted great, which is all that matters!

First, I put a tortilla on a dry hot pan with a little shredded cheese on it, to melt.  The dry pan is able to get the tortilla crispy without the added fat (she says showing a picture of melted cheese...).  Uh huh.

Meanwhile, in a bowl I combined baby spinach, red leaf lettuce, chunked grilled chicken, a crumbled slice of bacon, a few chopped green olives (I'm usually not a big olive eater but it sounded good tonight for some reason and was fantastic in the mix!).  Added a tablespoon of roasted garlic caesar dressing (found at Whole Foods)...

YUM!  And tossed it all up,

transferring it to the warm tortilla.  Served with some green grapes on the side.

Perfect quick meal for an incredibly busy, and slightly traumatic day.

What's for dinner for you this fine evening?

Hooty the owl says, "Good Night!"