See My Little Friend?

And since there is no such thing as A Mouse, look below.

Mice.

And they are soooo not afraid of me. I think they're posing for the camera.

Apparently my family has been unknnowingly selected for a month of customer service trials. In addition to our new and very sporadic Comcast service, which has already warranted many calls back and forth, and the saga with the Sublime sweater, we now have a whole new relationship with Lowes Home Improvement.

See, we had company this weekend (the human kind, not these little dudes) down from Maine. A family that used to live on our street came to visit with their kids. On Sat PM, as all the kids settled into bed, the husbands looked at each other and decided to head out to Lowes to look at the Grills. After all, the temp had gone above 50 and the snow had melted, so it was obviously time to begin shopping.

My friend Suzanne and I were perfectly happy to open up a bottle of wine and found a bad chick flick on TV. (The Lake House. Many plot holes, but entertaining nonetheless) We even called the men and warned them to stay out and get a beer unless they wanted to see Keanu Reeves. It was around 9:00.

Instead they returned a half hour later with a grill and a six pack. A grill they wanted to assemble that night - in the same room as us. We rolled our eyes and turned the sound up and made fun of them and complained about the noise.

Then..

they noticed the styrofoam. It had been eaten away in places. There was mouse poop in the box. And something furry in the corner. Lucky for us, they decided to open the door and take the box out on the deck before going any further. Long story short, an entire mouse family had set up camp in the warm cozy grill. Moms, Dads, Uncles, Aunts. We saw em dart across the deck in the snow. The worst of all was the batch of mouse babies in the charcoal tray. The guys abandoned the project mid box and called Lowes.

Lowes came the next morning, gave us a new assembled grill and took everything off the deck. But I'm thinking the little family needed to find new digs, huh? The babies didn't make it, but apparently many of the adults are now happily cruising around in my old walls.

Eeeew. And now there are three of them posing for photos in my kitchen. One we already caught in an trap this morning, and another is floating around the back closet.

Am waiting to hear back from Lowes this AM - I have to go off and teach a knitting class, but when I get back, either I'm calling the exterminator or they are.

And either way, they're paying the bill ....

again, eeeew.