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Discover Smith Mountain Lake
SUMMER 2016
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95 Springlake Drive, Moneta, VA 24121 •
540-721-4000
BEFORE
AFTER
under his work bench in the garage. He needed a tool that
was hanging on the wall over the work bench, and when he
walked over to get it he stepped down firmly on the right side
of the sticky trap. It clung to the bottom of his tennis shoe like
it was designed by Nike and manufactured as part of the sole.
In a reflex moment, he used his other foot against the left
side of the trap as leverage to pull free.That foot also stuck.
Now both feet were stuck tight to this 6 inch wide pad. My
husband is 6 feet 4 inches tall – you can do the math. He had
to grab his work bench to keep from toppling over. Add to
this the fact that he has a phobia about any type restraint.
Panic must have begun to set in. Fortunately, he did not try
to gnaw off a foot, but the idea of pulling his feet out of his
shoes also never occurred to him. There was a 2 X 4 piece of
lumber within reach; he was able to put it on a small exposed
portion of the pad, and with great effort, pull his feet free.
Months later, Pete still has the planet’s strongest glue
galvanized to the soles of his sneakers, which, after repeated
cleanings with soap, water, and Goof Off, still sound like
Velcro being yanked apart when he walks across our tile floor.
Years ago, I worked with a lady who bought one of those
Have-a-Heart traps. It sounds nice, doesn’t it? The problem
with a Have-a-Heart trap is that the mice don’t want to leave.
She would bait it at night, empty it outside in the morning,
and the next night the same mouse would be back. It was the
easiest food he’d ever found. Even if she took him to the outer
reaches of her one acre lot, he found his way back to the trap.
She knew it was the same mouse, because on the second or
third morning, she marked its head with an indelible pen.
Over the days, the mouse became so comfortable around her
that he wouldn’t run away when she emptied the trap. He
even began following her back to the house, then running
ahead of her and waiting at the door to be let in. Finally,
after enough time had lapsed that her kids were thinking of
naming him, and he was acting like he might start a family, she
took him on a long ride into the country, to a place where he
couldn’t find his way back. Her eyes filled with tears as she
told us the story. So much for having a heart!
Actually, nature has provided the best mouse-catcher
available, the common house cat. The better fed the cat, the
better mouser you’ll have. It’s the thrill of the catch that
makes them such great hunters, not hunger. Killing small
things and bringing them to your doorstep is also a cat’s way
of rewarding its owners. Either they want praise, or they are
letting you know that they’re earning their keep. Of course,
housebound cats must narrow their sights to the occasional
critter that makes its way indoors. They’ll even resort to
moths and other large insects when they get so desperate
to hunt. Imagine their excitement when a real live mouse
crosses their path!
My friend, Beth, and her husband, Richard, were sound
asleep one winter’s night a few years ago when their cat, a
housebound, short-haired domestic, captured a hapless field
mouse that had wandered in from the cold. Of course, being
asleep they were oblivious to the cat’s conquest.A dog would
have raised a ruckus.Cats, like snakes, are very very quiet.This
cat decided that his owners should share in his victory.With
the mouse clamped firmly between his teeth, he leaped upon
the bed, causing Beth, still drowsy from sleep, to turned over
onto her back. Once the cat was sure he had her attention,
he proudly and silently dropped his treasured prey squarely
in that “Y” indenture that we humans have in our lower neck.
That’s when the fun started.The mouse, which was not quite
dead, scurried for cover down Beth’s body and under the
bedding. Beth began screaming and kicking her legs to get
the covers off and the mouse out. At the same time, the cat
sprang into action, trying to recapture the mouse. It was the
combination of his wife’s screams and the cat’s pouncing that
jarred Richard awake. He jumped from the bed in a single
bound, switched on a light, grabbed one of his slippers, and
pounded the dazed mouse, now on the floor, into oblivion.
It was long after the mouse was dispatched and the cat shut
away from their sleeping quarters that Richard’s and Beth’s
heart rates returned to normal, and they were able to face
getting back into bed. As Richard rolled over on his side,
hoping to grab some sleep before the alarm went off, he
chuckled and remarked to his wife of 30 plus years:
“Well, that’s the most excitement we’ve had in this bedroom
for awhile.”
