Mice & multiculturalism

Ranch

After my previous post regarding critters, I have to share a story from this morning. I was working on Biochem (boo) when Chance started sniffing and whining at the closet door. Now this closet is semi-dangerous. Don't judge, I know that you have closets like this in your house too. It is the most convenient place to store dog food, shoes, winter clothes that we never wear, and golf clubs. We never go in there, so it is usually a congregating place for all of the mice in our home. I think they hold conventions in there (which is why I avoid it at all costs). We (and by that I mean S) have strategically placed mouse traps all over in there. Thus, I opened the closet door for Chance with much chagrin. Chance immediately launched himself on something. When I mustered up enough courage to look around the corner, I found that he had a sticky trap stuck to his mouth... with a live mouse on it (EEK!). I screamed like a girl and ran away. Again, mustering up all of my courage (because for some reason I believe these tiny rodents will give me syphilis or leprosy), I went back into the living room and ordered Chance to take it outside.

At this point, our Lab was having a wonderful time trying to free the now half-alive mouse from the sticky trap. He would get the trap stuck to his face, used his paw to get the tray off his face (which then became stuck to his paw), and then used his face to get the tray off his paw. This cycle went on for about 3 minutes before I started to become concerned about Chance getting covered in sticky trap glue. I called S. Unfortunately (as is always the case when things like this happen), S was gone. He asked if he should drive 5 hours back to the house to solve this problem. Of course he should, why does he bother to ask these questions! He told me I was being unreasonable, and that I should put on a glove, pick up the half-dead mouse and tray, and throw it in the outside trash. This sounds like a great plan in theory, but holding this mouse and tray in my hand was not going to happen today.

I mustered up all my remaining courage (there was not much left at this point), gathered a stick and a trash can lid, and had a plan to 'catch' this mouse and tray. I approached Chance with my weapons. He picked up the tray and the now completely dead mouse and ran across the lawn with it. He did this 3 more times. I'm sure the people passing on the highway were entertained by the sight of me in pajamas chasing my dog with a stick and a trash can lid. I eventually persuaded Chance to drop the tray (i.e. he got tired), and I scooped it up and disposed of it in the outside trash. This experience may scar me for life. Is it fair to be mad at S for not being here?

Aspiring

On another note (and one not involving rodents of any kind), I had a great week at work. I learned that I was awarded a scholarship to attend the International Symposium on Energy and Protein Metabolism and Nutrition in - get this - Parma, Italy! This is going to be a great conference, but right now I'm pretty excited about going to Europe for the first time. I'm even planning to drag S along for part of it (even though this SW Kansas man isn't nearly as excited as he should be - I'm bribing him with the thought of pasta and real tiramisu). The conference is in September, so I'll be spending my 25th birthday in Italia!

I also learned this week that I've been awarded an undergraduate intern from the University of Hawaii for the summer. She'll be able to help me with a big portion of my lab work and will have her own small research project. I'm obviously hoping that she likes me so much that she invites me to spend a week at her family's beach house on the big island (this is all imagination at this point, I have no idea if her family has a beach house). Still, I'm excited about the prospect.

Thanks for reading,
C