A furball worth fearing

My exposure to tiny, sometimes house-dwelling creatures has been fairly limited.  Some examples include:

1) My dog staring down a mouse in the kitchen when I was 8.
2) Episodes of Alvin and the Chipmunks.
3) A trip to DisneyWorld when I was 4.  Of course, Mickey was big.  Not small.
4) The time when cute little mice sewed me a ball-gown and kept the evil kitty cat away so I could go to the ball and marry the Prince.  Or maybe that was from a movie.
5) Turning on the vacuum in the family room and watching a chipmunk scurry into the kitchen.

Can you guess which happened this week?

We were warned by the inspector that there was evidence of invaders.  Hell, I showed you some chewed up paper from the second floor built-ins!  Why was I so naive to think that said mices and chipmunks had found other quarters?

It all started a few days ago when I heard scurrying in the kitchen during the kids' naps. I ran in to find a small rodent under the kitchen table.  Of course I called Ryan.  And then my mother. All while standing on one of the dining chairs.  We concluded it had accidentally fallen down the chimney and come in the fireplace.  Easy Peasey.  Everything was fine and dandy. We'd chase the damn thing out and be done.  So I went to pick up Ryan from work since, while I'm a liberated and strong woman, I am also a scaredy-cat when it comes to rodents and roaches.  I'm getting the willies just typing this.

But meanie ol' chipmunk was on to me.  I had left the back door open for an hour or so, and when I went to close it, I saw him next to the house. So yes, he had obviously left through the escape hatch I gave him!

Or not.

I won't go into the gory details, but I will share that we found where Alvin/Alvina was coming in and out of the house.  This is a crevice behind some of the cabinets.

Ewwwww.

You can see in the corner that stinker's door to our kitchen.  I bet s/he has a welcome mat somewhere.

This is how it looks after using spray foam.  

Last night we set out a trap just in case s/he was still in the house.

And woke up to find a mouse.  

Bleh.  I'll spare you a photo.  

What did I learn from this?  

a) I'm not cut out for all aspects of home ownership and adult responsibility. I can wipe dirty bottoms, scrub toilets, pull weeds all day, but rodents really creep me out.  

b) We should really consider suing Disney for making those little animals seem so cute and harmless.  I think my pain and suffering is worth a new kitchen, dontcha?  

c) We need a cat. Stat.  And he shall be called Lucifer.