Goodbye NIMH

This is NIMH. Last night at about 11:00, he appeared in my bedroom and nonchalantly crossed the room and crawled into my closet (he is crouched in the back of my closet in the picture). The next hour proved to be quite an adventure. I have to admit that he is pretty cute and harmless looking. For two reasons, I felt the need to capture him however. The first reason was, I do have a cat (at least for a little longer). Unfortunately, my cat is really bad at catching mice. But he is good enough to corner the mouse and scare him and I felt quite bad about that fact. I felt that both the mouse and my cat would be much happier if the mouse was not in my apartment. The second reason I wanted to capture him was that I was just not incredibly comfortable with the idea of NIMH wandering around while I was sleeping. I have heard that mice get bolder when the lights go out and I didn't really relish the idea of him deciding that he needed to explore my bed while I was in it. So after watching NIMH crawl into my closet, I got down on the floor and peered inside. (That's when I took the picture.) I decided that the peanut butter that was in the traps left by the exterminator just wasn't tempting enough, so I brought out a piece of yummy muffin and left it on a plate for him right outside my closet. My cat was banished to the kitchen and sat outside crying like a jilted lover* hoping for the opportunity of one more glimpse at his beloved desire. NIMH liked the muffin, but not enough to hop completely onto the plate. And when I got close enough to catch him, I realized that the cup I had intended to capture him with just was not quite big enough. I had a friend on the phone with me who suggested using a hand-washing cup, and appreciating the great idea, I hurried to get one. NIMH decided he was tired of the closet, and he ventured out into bedroom and then ran under my bed, which I wasn't terribly happy about. So I let my cat back into my room and he crawled under the bed after NIMH. This caused NIMH to exit from underneath my bed and he then decided to explore the kitchen. My cat, again not being especially good at catching mice, watched NIMH walk right past, coming literally within inches of him. Once in the kitchen, I managed to get the cup over NIMH, a piece of paper under him, and carried out of the house, into my yard, where he will hopefully no longer be chased by cats, and will find a bed of his own to sleep in. Goodbye NIMH, and good luck! *To my friend - the dare has been fulfilled, it's your turn.