And Ideas On How To Get Rid Of Mice?

So yesterday morning, Chief wakes me up with a hot cup of coffee and this statement:

I wonder what Ernie :: the Terrorist Puppy :: is going to do when he sees the mouse eating his dog food?

Um..

UM..

WHAT???

Yep.. when I turned the kitchen light on it went scurrying across the floor and under the oven. Looked pregnant too.

Um..

UM..

W.H.A.T???????

Well.. you know.. it’s that time of year and their going to start trying to get it because it’s getting colder out

I don’t know what was annoying me more.. the fact that there a mouse in my house or the fact that his tone was SO DAMN MATTER OF FACT.

Either way, my response was I. WANT. IT. OUT.

So he says he’s going to call a friend of ours who’s an exterminator and get some glue traps.

No. No. NO. NO! NO! NO!!!!! No glue traps…

I’ve heard horror stories about glue traps and even though I don’t want the mouse IN my house, I don’t want it stuck to adhesive.. I don’t want it to chew it’s little leg off trying to get off of it and I certainly don’t want to hear it’s squeals of torment.

He rolls his eyes when I get all Peta on him.

I tell him to get Cat back.

NOTE: For those of you who don’t know the story of Cat :: yes, that’s his name :: he was the freakin’ coolest, laid back pimp who one day showed up at the house. He would stay a couple of days.. then leave for a couple of days.. then come back.. etc. He was like a time-share. BUT.. he was an excellent mouser. NOTHING came in my house when he was around and the best part was, whatever deed he did, he kept it covert.

A Cat Named "Cat"

One day he left… and we didn’t see him again for awhile. Turns out that the two guys who moved in down the street had taken him in and he decided that he was FINALLY getting the pampering he so rightly deserved and no longer had to deal with Ernie, The Terrorist Puppy. Downside is that he now wears a flea collar.. which I’m sure he just LOVES! You should have seen his reaction the first time I put one on him. No likey at all!! I still see him from time to time.. just doing his thing… but even though I don’t miss how he thought that sleeping INSIDE my pillow case was his rightful place, I do miss the fact that he kept my house mice-less!

Chief tells me that he’s not going to do that.. and we’ll just have to get a kitten. He says a kitten will work better for the dogs.. not because they wouldn’t harm a kitten but because the kitten won’t harm THEM, I think!

Not really that thrilled with getting a kitten. Mainly because Cat was the only cat that I ever had experience with and .. let’s face it.. I didn’t really have to do anything for him. I don’t know how to train a kitten to go into the litter box, for example. And given that fact that the house is empty for most of the day and I FINALLY got all the dog piss smell out of the house :: we ripped out all the rugs :: .. and FINALLY got the kids to straighten out a bit, I’m SO not looking forward to having to deal with that kind of things again.

Can you blame me?

So help me out here.. anybody have / had this issue with mice?

NOTE: I’m talking about field mice here.. not GOD FORBID rats

So short of moving :: which is SO a prospect now!! :: what can I do to alleviate myself of the critter without scarring my emotions towards animal suffering?