CRITTERS IN THE ATTIC

        Critters, some are cute, ugly, mean, furry, cuddly. I don't mind snakes, spiders, some bugs are ok, I don't have a fear of critters like some, but give me a mouse and OMG i just lose all of my sanity, insanity takes over here. I will admit i go into a complete panic if this critter crosses my path.                                                                                                                                        As a child watching cartoons or even going to the show i remember mice lived in the forest, usually in a tree trunk with a rounded door, go inside and there was a cute lil' mouse house, dad sitting in his comfy chair, reading the paper and smoking his pipe with those big glasses on, mom mouse in the kitchen standing at the table making bread, kneading the dough with flour all over her apron, all the same furniture, appliances everything the same as a human home. So in my childs mind this is how i believed the mouse family actually existed. WRONG !!  Enter reality!                                                                                                                      It turns out mom was terrified of the lil' critters too! Growing up in Chicago i can remember living in 5 different "homes" as a child from birth to age 14, actually they all were apartments except for one it was an actual house. We always lived on the second or third floor as mom told me later in life we lived on the upper floors because mice did not climb up that far !!!  OK mom !!                                                                                                                                          My first encounter with the wretched mice was when we lived in the actual house. 5304 S. Lowe ave.  chicago, il.   Of course the home is no longer standing it was probably more than 100 years old when we lived there in the early 60's. It was nice being in an actual home, not having to worry about making too much noise that would disturb our neighbors, being able to run and yell in the house,  Ah, Freedom !!  That home was infested with mice, I mean overrun with them critters.  When you walked in the front door a big hallway met you, a beautiful staircase going up to 3 bedrooms and a bathroom, the main floor had a living room, dining room, kitchen and 1 bedroom, there was a pantry off the kitchen and the odd thing was it also had a toilet and sink in the pantry, no door, so it was only used by us kids as an emergency, mom hated the idea of having to store food in the pantry with a toilet, let alone use that said toilet.  There was a basement too but was never used, too creepy for me to go down there. My sister and brother used to go down and it was kind of their playroom, a hangout  once in awhile i would go there to listen to Beatles albums but only if someone else was there too. To get to the basement you had to go thru the door in the only bedroom on the first floor.                                                                                                                                                          My brother had the bedroom on the main floor, I can remember being pretty sick one time, probably the flu, mom said i had to sleep in brothers room, she did not want me to get the other kids sick. What a horrid night that was, those mice were in the walls, i could hear them all night long, scratching and scurrying about, they were even scratching on that basement door, as if they were saying "let me in". I never heard these noises in my upstairs bedroom, could mom have been right, they don't climb up that far ?  After about 6 hours of this tortuous noise i started crying and went up to my own room, at this point i did not give a darn if anyone else got sick !!  Needless to say we did not stay too long in our very first "home" we moved out after about 6 months, mom nor myself could not live with the critters anymore !!                                                                                                                                                              So here i am 50 years later in a home of my own, one that hubby and i built from scratch. It's late fall and i am comfy on my recliner watching late night tv, i hear something, i put the tv on mute, lo and behold i hear scratching on the ceiling in the corner of the living room, my heart starts racing, i break out in a sweat, i am giving myself a panic attack, critters in the attic!!!  I jump up go to the spot where i hear the scratching, sure enough its getting louder and now there are running noises back and forth on the ceiling, more scratching, surely the critters are going to scratch a hole right thru that ceiling and thousands of them will come tumbling down into my home !!!  OMG !! I wake up hubby he is a bit upset with me because i make him come and listen, it's getting louder now, he says he doesn't hear anything, WTF !  In my panic i forgot that his hearing is going and of course he doesn't hear it.                                                                                                                                                        After a pretty much sleepless night, listening for the critters and waiting for that hole to appear i get up the next morning, checking the whole house for ceiling holes, none found praise the lord, if i would have found any proof of them critters i would have headed to the nearest Motel 6.                                                                                                                                                        I am in the parking lot now waiting for our local hardware store to open @ 8am, of course i am their first customer of the day, i purchase a 20 lb bag of D-con, i rush home and have hubby put all 20 lbs of those pellets in the attic, i feel relieved already.  After several days i haven't heard any sounds, ahh!!  i can sleep tonite.                                                                              Well mom i can finally prove you wrong about something   mice do climb that high !!  Till next time my SPECIAL READERS !  Ta-Ta for now !!