There's a Mouse In My House, and Other Stories

Once again, my post for the day originated with some comments I made elsewhere--in this case, Dave Barry's Blog, where there's a post that links to this story about people coming home to find a rat in their toilet, which is evidently a regular occurrence in Salem, Oregon.

A lot of people shared their stories of rodents in the house, so I was compelled to share mine...

Rodent Story #1:
In the last apartment I lived in, I was shaving one morning when I felt something run across my feet. The sensation of fur on flesh is not something that one expects at 6 a.m., so I looked down at the floor and saw what appeared to be a blonde rat scurrying over by the bathtub. I went after it with a broom, with the objective of simply sweeping it off the (second-floor) balcony and letting it sail through the air across the courtyard. But before I could do so, I realized that perhaps it might be a hamster, and someone's pet at that, and it managed to hide itself in a little recessed area of my fireplace.

After I got home again that night, I went and asked my neighbors behind me if 1) they had a hamster, and 2) if said hamster was missing. The answers were yes and yes. It turns out that our respective kitchen cabinets backed up to each other, and there was a hole in between them through which the hamster would pass whenver it got out of its cage.

Over the next few months, I ended up catching that thing several times, usually by scooping it up with a dustpan and into a paper grocery sack, which it never seemed to find a way to tip over and escape. One time, the neighbors weren't home, so I simply left the upright bag on their porch, where the hamster remained until they got back.

Rodent Story #2:
When I had moved out of that apartment and into a rental house, I came back from a long weekend out of town, opened the lid to my toilet, and was quite surprised to find a mouse in there, crawling up around the rim. Needless to say, I flushed quickly and often to ensure that it made it all the way back down to the sewer. I don't know for sure if it drowned in the process, but if not, it sure had a heckuva story to tell its fellow sewer-dwellers.

Have any rodent stories of your own? Post 'em in the comments.

(And yeah, I know, it's fairly cheap to make two consecutive days' worth of blog posts out of stuff I've posted on other blogs...but look at it this way: your favorite TV show is probably in reruns right now, but at least I'm posting new content, no matter how spread around it might be.)

The Taco Bell cannon: One of Dave's commenters linked to a totally hilarious video, the Pachelbel Rant. (When I used to work in a music store, I would always have people who wanted to buy a copy of the Pachelbel Canon, but many of them would ask for the "Taco Bell Cannon" instead, as well as the "Bronze [meaning Brahms'] Lullaby.)

Strange brew, part 1: (Since I'm sharing my post with Dave Barry's Blog today, I figured my news stories should be about one of Dave's favorite subjects--beer.) The police department in Bennington, Vermont, in an effort to curtail drunk driving during the holidays, is issuing pint glasses with the department's logo on them to local bars and restaurants.

Strange brew, part 2: Meanwhile, next door in New Hampshire, a man who was pulled over on suspicion of drunk driving continued to drink beer during his arrest.