Death Strikes Again

Today is better. I have some of my zip back and have spent the morning baking bread and clearing the tumble weeds of dog hair from the upper level of the house. It was then I found the body.

I had finished the master bedroom and was working on the bath when I noticed a tiny pile of what looked like sawdust behind the toilet. It was up against the baseboard and upon squatting down and peering under the tank, I saw that there was more atop the baseboard directly below the spot where the water supply entered the wall.

There was one of those cosmetic metal rings that goes around plumbing pipes to hide the rough cut of the hole in the sheetrock and that was out from the wall a little ways with what looked like insulation poking out around the edges in a few places. I figured that some ants had gone in and out there and had caused the debris.

I took the floor attachment off the long metal portion of the vacuum wand and began to clean up the little pile on the floor and on top of the baseboard. I then went after the pieces of insulation that were poking out around the metal ring. My first attempts were unsuccessful at removing the stuff and I bent lower and pulled the ring a little further away from the wall. It was then that the tail fell out.

Yes, it was what was left of a mouse that had apparently tried to enter the bathroom from the wall cavity and was able to push the metal ring a little way away from the wall, but not far enough to gain enough clearance to get all the way through. Problem was, he couldn’t get back either and was condemned to enter eternity listening to the occasional flush.

I spose that if it had been anywhere else, I would have detected its presence due to the natural changes in its perfume as petrification set in, but given where it gave up the ghost, that must have been disguised.

It’s a good thing this did not happen when C was here. She hated mice and refused to believe that any rodent would have the temerity to enter a house in this esteemed community. She and I had more than one discussion about such houseguests where she believed they should be totally banned and firmly rooted out and I was a bit more laid back believing that there is not a building built that a mouse could not enter once it set its mind to it and that it made more sense to have a clear understanding about the human living quarters, where uninvited guests should be discouraged, and other bits and pieces of the structure where we wouldn’t worry so much about the occupants.

Anyway, it took me a bit to get all of Mickey out of his nook, but eventually the ring was once again firmly against the wall and all signs of a demise removed, which reminds me, it is probably time to change the bag on the vacuum cleaner.

TTFN,

P.