Tuesday, April 21, 2009

An Easter....Mouse?

On Easter Sunday Andrew and I walked into the nursery room in our church to get things ready and set up for the kids as usual. Our nursery leader was out of town that week, so we were in charge. We opened up the cupboard that held our snacks and supplies. The paper towels we had sitting on top of the bin with the snacks were strangely shredded...Then we noticed inside that bin the pack of saltine crackers we had in there was gnawed off on one of the corners. The little bag of mini candy bars had been chewed into and some of the candy bars--still in their wrappings--had been chewed into as well. We had an open box of cheez-its with a sealed bag...now there was a hole at the bottom with obviously nibbled on cheez-its. Then, the dead give-away....mouse droppings all over the bottom of that same bin that our snacks had been in. Finally, I saw something moving on one of the bottom shelves in the cupboard quickly moving to the shelves above it. Then on the very shelf where we had moved the snack bin from, out came a mouse. That's right, we had a mouse visiting our nursery that day. It stayed up on that shelf for about a minute, I think trying to figure out where it's new home had disappeared to. Then it crawled down behind the books we had in there and I didn't see it again. Now to Devin and Emily, this means nothing I'm sure, in light of their fun experiences with mice all over their house. (Just another reason Africa would not be the place for me! :) ) But for the parents of some of our nursery kids, it was just too much to handle. We tried to keep the whole thing quiet, knowing how some of the parents would overreact to this knowledge. But when Andrew went and got some of the men in the ward to help get rid of it, news spread quickly. Apparently it was the talk of Relief Society that day. Some of the parents took their kids home, while others would not let them back in the room we adjacent to where the mouse was, even with the curtain closed. I ended up taking the kids for a walk around the halls of the church with the help of some of the parents, then in to play in another room with some toys brought from home by the helper we had in there with us that day. Andrew stayed with the five men in the nursery room that had all come to try to catch the mouse. None of them ever saw the mouse, and the traps we left in there after church were empty this past Sunday. So no one knows what happened to our quiet little church mouse. Unfortunately I was not in a state of mind to take pictures as proof of this whole experience. But, needless to say, it was an interesting day in nursery that I hope we never get to repeat!

6 comments:

Malinovka said...

I can't believe it--that is SO crazy!!! HOW did it get in the Church, and WHERE did it go!!?? Strange. Well, I'm glad Andrew was with you when you saw it. If it had been me, I might just have fainted on the floor. I am also VERY glad I don't live in Africa!

Christa said...

I'm thinking that Devin and Emily are sending all of their mice your way.

Kristen said...

That's creepy. I hope I never find a mouse inside a closet at church. :)

The Romney Family said...

That's crazy! If you're interested, I could tell you how to rig a killer mousetrap with just one tupperware container, a golf tee and some dental floss. Oh, and some peanut butter on a plastic spoon. haha And I kid you not, I have truly caught a mouse this way!

Happy Wanderers said...

Ha!! I think it's SO FUNNY that the parents freaked out about that... he he he. There was a mouse 'scare' in the nursery in our ward in Virginia and I thought that was funny. If we were to find a mouse in the nursery here, no one would think twice about it. The mouse would probably be cleaner than the toys in the nursery here. Blah. We did find another mouse in our house today, though, if it makes you feel any better. Andrew and I were chasing it around the dining room with a sauce pan. :)

Happy Wanderers said...

By the way, I'm so honored that you linked your mouse experience to my mouse experience! :)