A Not So Fun Experience...

So...here's the story...
It was Thursday night, 11:45pm. A storm came through Austin. A strong storm. Pouring down rain, lightening, thunder. Hilary and I were up talking and Hilary announces, "I LOVE storms!! Let's turn the lights out and watch the storm!"
So we turn a few lights out, head to the door and Hilary opens up the door to get a closer look...and as soon as she opens the door....A RAT COMES RUNNING INTO OUR APARTMENT and into our kitchen.
seriously.
I'm talking...a RAT. It almost ran over my toes.
Not a little mouse...but a rat...we're pretty sure it was a rat.
So...what did we do....
Well first, we SCREAMED a lot. Jumped up and down and jumped up onto the chairs in our living room...and that is where we stayed for the next hour or so...me laughing a lot...and Hilary almost in tears...Of course my camera was nearby and I risked walking a bit on the floor to get it. I did contemplate jumping over to the couch and then jumping to the loveseat...but opted to run quietly and really fast to get it, all the while squealing (quietly of course).
So we didn't know what to do...here we are both of us up on chairs not wanting to be the one to try and get down, find it and catch it. Hilary just kept saying, "I don't know what to do....man...I can't handle this...I don't know what to do...I'm calling my dad."
#1 it's midnight
#2 he's in Iowa.
So Hilary calls her dad who is deep in sleep, and says, "Dad, I'm ok. I don't know what to do!"
He gives advice half asleep about banging pots and pans together which would definitely involve us...
#1 having to get off of the chairs
#2 getting into the cupboards to get the pots and pans...
um...next option
The fire department...
Our friend Matt is a fireman and we thought that maybe he was on call that night and the fire station is just a couple of blocks down...so they could get there FAST.
Hilary pulls out her cell phone and dials the fire station directly...(at the time a little unsure why in the world Hilary had the direct line to the fire station in her phone...hilarious.)
A guy answers.
Hilary: "Is Matt working tonight?"
Fireman: "No, but he is on tomorrow night."
Hilary: "aww...ok...well thanks...um...could I ask your opinion on something? Do any of you guys know how we could get a rat out of our apartment?!"
Fireman: "uh, no. And we're all sleeping."
Hilary: "Oh, sorry! I thought you guys just stayed up all night!"
#1 how rude! Shouldn't firemen want to protect two young gals from a disease infested (i'm sure) rodent who intruded on us and is now living in our apartment?!
#2 I imagined Hilary thinking that they stayed up all night ready to go just waiting for a fire to start and the fire bell to ring.
The entire conversation, I was laughing really hard.
So um...next option.
Hilary's friend, who is a girl and is tough. She called her up and so Brooke came over ready to get after it with a tennis racket, to find us still on the chairs. (you would think with having previously lived in an old house where my roommates and I kept a tally of all of the mice we caught in the house over the year we lived there...the tally was 12, I believe...that I would be able to handle this.)
We were pretty sure that he didn't go down the hall towards our rooms and luckily our doors were closed so we were pretty sure that he didn't get into our rooms, so Hilary decided to make a big barricade of suitcases to block off the hallway before we (Brooke) tried to find it in the kitchen.At this point Hilary is still feeling pretty nauseous and is almost in tears. I'm still laughing...and taking pictures. I'm realizing that I am actually handling this better than Hilary who is generally the bug killer and the brave one. Brooke and I decided that we should go to the bathroom before she set off in the kitchen...my track record isn't too good with being able to control my bladder in situations like this. (referring to a certain situation that happened in the old house with the mice.)
After we got all ready we (Brooke) decided to make her way to the kitchen. She really is brave. But "we" couldn't find him.

She looked through all of the cupboards, behind the refrigerator. Nothing. She even checked back in our rooms and closets. Nothing.I did make my way to the counter on this picture.
The thought of this guy hanging out somewhere in our apartment and us not knowing where, was not fun.
We had gotten advice on how to make a bucket peanut butter trap.We thought that maybe our little gangsta rat could help the situation...

We also went to HEB to get some rat traps...and milk...at 2:00 in the morning!So the thought of going to sleep with that guy still out there somewhere was very scary...so I slept in Hilary's bed! I think we got to sleep around 3:00am. But it was definitely not restful sleep...I kept thinking that I felt it crawling on me. It was so scary.
So with 5 traps set up around the apartment...we thought for sure we would catch him. It is now Sunday night and we have yet to catch him...or see him.
I have forced myself to believe that he has left...and won't be coming back.
I really think that he could have slipped out the sliding glass door from the side of the refrigerator and we just didn't see him.
I'm going to go with that story.
YUCK!
You know it's bad when the thought actually crossed my mind to borrow someone's cat to live here for awhile. But then I quickly realized that I couldn't handle that either. :)
I'm sticking with this story...that he left and he's not coming back.
I'm still keeping the traps up for awhile though!