TBT: A BETTER MOUSETRAP

I bet most of you remember Milton Bradley's 1963 board game Mouse Trap. It was one of the first 3 dimensional games and one of my favorites. 

In case you never had the opportunity to play/ have forgotten how here's a quick summary. After a roll of the dice 2-4 players would move their plastic mouse to the designated rolled space  following the instructions where they landed.

Some spaces had the world 'build' and the assembly of the colored plastic mouse trap would ensue in order piece by piece. Some spaces allowed one to collect cheese cards to move another player's mouse towards the cheese wheel once the trap was completed.  Once completed and a player's mouse ended on the cheese wheel space and you landed on a turn crank space, you could crank to set lowering the cage, Then a small marble like ball would be set at the beginning of the maze and roll though the maze until it triggered the cage to drop The game would end when all but one mouse survived.

Maybe somehow Milton Bradley  knew that all of us would be faced with the inevitable task of having to catch a mouse someday. No matter where I have lived whether city or country living, there have been mice to catch and let's face it there isn't really a humane way to catch them. 

Natureman has probably let as many go as he has caught. Most of the time they don't survive to return to continue feasting/escaping the cold. In fact, mouse activity was just discovered at my car's 20K check again. Hey, we have even lost a truck due to a mouse chewing on wires. I have placed Bounce dryer sheets in the wintering Miata to dissuade guest rodents. I am going to try peppermint oil on the other car's filter now. Wish me luck. 

Meanwhile the past couple of mornings there have been some kitchen noises of chewing and the birds at the kitchen window feeder were eliminated as culprits when I caught sight out the corner of my eye of a quick shadow scurrying across the great room towards the kitchen yesterday. 

Natureman got the trusty peanut butter and set the trap placing it by the refrigerator.  I moved it under the kitchen cabinet by the base board and at 5 this morning, his regular kitchen time the critter set off the trap. 



I could say I'm sorry he didn't make it but seriously it was a quick death unlike the Mouse trap game where it took a really long time to catch that plastic mouse.  It's survival of the fittest here in the End of the Rainbow Valley and you and I both know this guy has friends...