So long, Mr. Mouse.

On Sunday, when my roommates and I cleaned out the kitchen closet, we discovered an unwanted little visitor was keeping house among our canned goods and cereals. A mouse. Lovely.

On Monday, I set two no-kill traps with crackers and peanut butter.

On Tuesday morning, the cracker was gone, but there was no mouse. I reloaded the trap.

On Tuesday evening, the cracker was gone again, but once more, no mouse. I realized the trap door wasn't shutting correctly, so I swapped it out with the other trap. I also told Piper I was going to swap her for a cat.

On Wednesday morning, the trap was shut, moved more than a foot across the floor, on its side, chewed and ... no mouse. At this point I'm wondering if it could be a super mouse, or maybe a rat. I set the trap again.

On Wednesday afternoon, trap was shut, chewed, with no mouse. I set it once more, resigning myself to the fact that my roommate was going to get to set killing traps since this, obviously, wasn't working, and the mouse was still eating our food and pooping everywhere. I reminded Piper that she was being rather useless with the mouse-catching.

On Wednesday night, around midnight, while John and I were watching "Top Chef" and Piper was sleeping on the couch beside me, she suddenly jumped up and ran into the kitchen. She whined at the closet door and looking at me alarmingly. Suddenly, I realized, the mouse! I ran over, opened the door, and - tah dah! - before he could escape, we caught him. The sneaky thing.

John cleaned out the bucket we had been using for our leaking shower (our house isn't falling apart, I swear), and we plopped the mouse inside with a few crackers. (He was huge for a mouse.) I closed the lid, but was going to open it so John could take a photo. He said the mouse would jump. I said no way. For the next 10 minutes we watched him slam his head into the lid of the bucket trying to escape.

Piper was quite displeased with this little creature, so we couldn't watch the rest of "Top Chef" and instead drove the mouse to the beach and let it out near the pavilion, so it would have a little shelter in the cold. I barely saw him scamper away when I tilted the bucket. A police officer drove by very slowly (of course), but surprisingly didn't stop. I guess a girl in snowflake pajamas, pink slippers and a big blue bucket isn't very suspicious.

When we got home, we finished watching "Top Chef" and I, of course, gave Piper a lot of treats and a lot of praise. She did a great job. I didn't need a cat after all.