Rats!

...or mice at least...

I can remember hearing a quote on one of my first days at China Spring. It was from my partner teacher, Nathan, talking about the conditions at the Intermediate School. He had said, "The crickets get real bad here. They come in when it rains. Then the mice come in when it gets cold. Then, the snakes come in for the mice." My immediate reaction: "WHAT?!"

He was right about the crickets. They were horrible! The month of September left a foul stench and black field crickets in every nook and cranny of the school. The month of October started off okay. The school was left with dismembered cricket parts as a nasty reminder of what had come to us the month before. Gosh, I wish all I was dealing with was some brown wings and fuzzy legs laying around.

Now, as October came to an end, I saw my first mouse. I told myself, Nathan just moved all his stuff and I am sure it just doesn't have a home now. We set out a sticky trap along the path we saw him running. If only it were that easy. Over the first night, he had successfully moved the trap and crapped on my desk just to remind me that he was still there. Over the next few days, I had seen the evidence that there was a mouse still in our office. Daily, he found my lesson plan book and left me gifts. Heck, I guess a lesson plan book would be the perfect place.

Now, for 2 going on 3 weeks, I feel as if I am living the movie, Mouse Hunt. (Haven't seen it? It's a must!) I crack up every time I see that movie, but I honestly believe if I were to watch it again tonight, I might be a little more empathetic towards Nathan Lane's and Lee Evan's characters.

I will leave you with this one story (one, of many). I was eating my lunch one day when I saw a brown streak across the floor. Not an atypical sight. I had made some chocolate chip cookies the night before and I was super excited about them, so I decided to save them for my conference period. Which would be after my 2 classes of 5th grade. I had successfully made it through 5th grade PE and took the kids back to class. As I was doing this, my partner teacher headed back to the office when he heard some squirming. The mouse had successfully made it to my desk and inside my large zip-lock lunch bag where I thought my tasty treats were safe.

They spent a second or two staring at each other when Todd (my new partner teacher) jumped at the bag to try and trap him. The mouse ran out of the bag just in time and maneuvered himself on top of my lesson plan book that was neatly placed in the middle shelf of a three-tiered, plastic shelving unit on my desk. He gave a look just like the little mouse in Mouse Hunt would have, and probably smiled too.

Todd proceeds to do what any half-minded football coach would do in this situation. He uses his large, golf-sized umbrella as a sword and begins to poke at the mouse positioned safely within the confines of my desk organizer. Without a doubt in his mind, he avoids the prodding from the large, umbrella-equipped human and escapes the impending peril before him.

Todd retells me the story and ends with the fact that my cookies are now safe. He insisted they were double bagged and would be still fine to eat. With that advice, I promptly took the cookies inside their bag, inside the large zip-lock bag and threw it all in the trash.

Before I tossed my soft, fresh cookies in the trash I carefully broke a piece of one of the cookies off and gently placed it on a sticky trap. When I returned from teaching 6th grade PE the cookie had been nibbled, the trap had been moved a foot to the left, and there was a nice little present on my desk. I fixed the trap and needless to say, Monday morning the cookie was gone and my friend the mouse was on the trap in its place. I hope it was worth it, buddy!

Now, Nathan had been spot on with the crickets, and now proved himself wise with the mice. I am praying that he is 2 for 3 and the snakes stay clear of my office!

I have learned a lesson from all of this: If you give a mouse a cookie, he will crap on your desk!