Mouse vs. cats

For a little while now, I've thought we had a mouse in the house. Starsky and Hutch were waaaaay too interested in the drawer underneath the stove. I would see them perch on the floor, sniff and just generally loiter in that area for hours. If it wasn't a mouse, then I *thought* there was something.

I told Craig my theory and while he entertained listening to it, he didn't believe it. After all, there really aren't any other signs that a mouse is in the house. I haven't seen anything eaten or cereal boxes half-chewed open.

I let my theory die and just chalked it up to the cats being interested in that area of the kitchen.

Until last night.

I store the pans that I don't use often in the stove drawer (i.e. the cake pans, etc.) and the ones that I do use often organized in a cabinet. I store my muffin pans in the stove drawer and I pulled one out last night to make some muffins and saw something that looked like mouse droppings in the pan.

We shall see...no one has actually see a mouse yet. But the cats are now roaming around the house at night, just in case. For a while now, the cats have been shut in the office at night to keep them from wandering into Madeline's bedroom. But they're free now.

Craig says it's time they earn their keep.

My money is on the cats.