Enjoyed your story of the mouse in your kitchen [Sauce, Nov. 13] because it reminded me of another long ago that became part of our family folklore. My Mom would be bothered with the occasional mouse in her kitchen and she would set traps for them. The incident that we all recall (Mom has been gone a long time now) is the time a mouse was making its way along the top of the cabinets under the sink. Its tail was visible. Mom had a pair of scissors handy and on impulse cut off the tail. We all waited to see if a tailless mouse would be trapped but it never came to pass.

RON MOTTO
McKeesport

I was dismayed to read your article about glue traps, which you apparently thought was a topic that deserved a light-hearted approach. If you had done any research, you would have discovered that glue traps are the most inhumane pest control device. I have read stories written by people who naively used glue traps, only to discover mice who pulled off their own limbs trying to escape the glue, etc. Please be more responsible. I realize mice are not as warm and fuzzy as dogs and cats, but they are living creatures that feel pain and that can be dealt with in humane ways.

KRISTIN McCORMISH
Carnegie

I wanted to tell you how much your mouse story brought a smile to my face. I had a similar incident and no one was home; I couldn't get anybody to come over and dispose of the mouse, so I called my poor girlfriend and made her stay on the phone with me while I shrieked into the receiver as I scooped up the carcass and put him in a trash bag. She still claims she doesn't have full hearing in her ear!

VICKI FLOTTA
West Mifflin

I am really not sure what the purpose was of Margi Shrum's "A Mouse in the House..." article other than to turn my stomach after lunch. I really have no desire to read about the inhumane disposal of a rodent in her house, especially when the article is located in the newspaper's food section. Next time try a Havahart trap, which enables a live capture and release of the animal and spare us the gory details.

JENNIFER POLLER
Squirrel Hill

I hate to break it to columnist Margi Shrum, but killing the mouse she found in her kitchen is like laying out a welcome mat for more mice to take his or her place. Until she solves the problem at its source -- by sealing up the tiny cracks and holes in her home and keeping food and garbage in sealed, chew-proof containers -- mice will continue to stream in.

If you have "uninvited guests" in your home, please don't kill them -- it's inhumane and it doesn't solve the problem. Glue traps are especially cruel.

Instead, after sealing up entry points, catch any remaining mice with a humane live trap (available from PETACatalog.org) and release them outdoors. For more ways to live in harmony with wildlife, visit HelpingWildlife.com.

STEPHANIE BELL
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA)
Norfolk, Va.

I also have experience with a mouse in the house. As a homeowner, it is a constant battle between the creatures who should be on the outside but come inside, such as the mice and the ubiquitous grain moths. About 16 years ago, in the mornings when I would come downstairs into the kitchen, I saw these little black things, which I thought were some type of insect. That shows you what I didn't know. The truth came with a jolt.

I was having a small luncheon and was preparing chocolate sauce and I didn't have time to complete it before leaving the house to do an errand. I covered the pot with foil. When I returned, I saw the pot vigorously shaking. I called to Dear Hubby with alarm, figuring that a bug had somehow gotten into the pot. I ran upstairs for cover. He came up and said that when he removed the foil cover, there was a tiny mouse who was clinging to the side of the pot and he was all covered in chocolate. He asked me if I wanted to see it before he let it loose outside. I could not bring myself to look at it. But I wondered what a cat would have thought or even the others in the mouse's family after seeing the chocolate mouse.

Since we are vegetarians, we prefer not to kill the mice and have purchased Havahart traps.

Enjoyed reading your article since I've been there, too.

LOUISE GRAY
Shadyside

As a critter-lover AND a homeowner, I don't really know the answer to the dilemma. I don't want my house overrun with mice either, but I can't bring myself to persecute them. I have found that having two cats keeps the mice away, at least from the living areas. Mice don't even come around any more.

Try the humane trap -- especially if you just get a mouse here and there. You'll be able to say, "Good old mouse. Good old me."

IRIS VALANTI
Brookline

Congratulations on a very good article about our friends of many years, John and Fannie Yoder ["Tours take you to Amish home cooking," Food & Flavor, Nov. 13]. They have been in our life since we first met them in 1991 at the school auction. They are dear to us.

They have two sets of twin girls whose company and quilting skills I've enjoyed. When we and they work on one of my quilts, I've been known to bring the midday meal for the group, including the men from the shops or the farm. I tried out New Orleans Jambalaya on them and it was a big hit.

GEORGIA MONCADA
Point Breeze

I am originally from Pittsburgh but now live in Alexandria, Va., and read your beer column item on holiday brews online [Food & Flavor, Nov. 13]. At Total Wine & More last night, I found limited edition big bottles of Penn Brewery's St. Nikolaus Bock, complete with collector's bag. I had no idea that Penn Brewery sold those, but I think I have to go back tonight to buy a couple more.

BRIAN CONWAY
Alexandria, Va.

This is the second year for the velvet-bagged "Brewers Reserve" series of 25-ounce bottles of St. Nik, which brewer Andrew Rich says is a stronger version -- about 8 percent alcohol by volume vs. 6.9 percent. St. Nikolaus himself will tap the ceremonial first keg at the North Side brewery for the annual party at 6 p.m. Dec. 5.

-- Bob Batz Jr.