"Okay, that's twice, now!"

This from the wife, laying in bed with me Monday night, watching the Olympics. Her side of the bed gives her a view of the doorway floor. And twice, now, she has caught something small and brown darting across the doorway.

First one way, which she attributed to an optical illusion in the near-dark glow of the tv.

And then the same small brown shape darting the other way across the jamb.

Unlikely for any sort of optical illusion.

We got a mouse.

Again.

Craaap.

So, the live trap is baited with kibble from the heelers' supply, and set at the bottom of the bookcase by the bedroom door. My ears are alert all night for the gentle "shwip" of the trap door popping shut.

Never happens. Tuesday morning, and empty trap.So I move it to the kitchen, where we were so successful in October.

Next morning, no mouse. I leave it set. And go to bed not knowing the wife moved the trap into the doorway of the pantry, and threw in a small piece of waffle for good measure.

Sometime around dark-thirty Thursday morning, I awake to the sound of metal banging. Having grown up with gerbils who clawed and dug at their cages all night, I know exactly what this is.

We got a mouse.

But by the sounds of it, a hefty, pissed off mouse. Not quiet and timid like last fall's. This one, it turns out, is just your standard Mus musculus. The common house mouse, an import from the Old World.

So, once again, the question is...

We got one mouse, or many? The wife and I admit we've been getting careless with the front door again, leaving it ajar when the heeler Mom is outside. Could easily get a home invader.

And there's the drier vent, which I carelessly piled a bag of garbage under whilst awaiting a trip to the dump. Easy access into the house for a rodent. But have we got many, or just one, like in October?

So, the house mouse gets set up in its own house. A former gerbil cage, complete with water, food, cotton balls, and a cardboard tube.

And the trap is reset. With both kibble and waffle.

No more mice. No more brown shadows darting across the doorways. For two more nights. So yesterday, the house mouse got his freedom. In the dirt floor, unattached garage, with probably a week's supply of food. And his mobile home.

The trap was set again, lest he knew his way back into the house, but no mouse.

And it's set again tonight.