Our
cooling trend became even cooler yesterday. I finally switched from sweatshirt
to t-shirt mid-afternoon and wished for my sweatshirt again in about an hour. It felt
downright chilly last night. I abandoned my summer nightie and dug out my
winter pajamas. I also let the electric blanket warm the bed. And this morning
I’m enjoying a pot of gingerbread tea – my first of the officially unofficial
holiday season. (Christmas is fair after Labor Day in Kathy’s world.)
Naturally,
the cool air speaks to the mice and tells them it’s time to move indoors. Rodent
infestation is a fact of life in the country. However, it’s essential to keep
fighting or the mice will take over. I’m afraid I became a bit complacent
during the hot months when they were less visible, though I know the enemy is
never far away. I can hear him/her/them in my walls. Gnaw, gnaw, gnaw –
scratch, scratch, scratch.
You
know, I think mice are a little like Santa Claus when he’s on his way to town:
They
see you when you’re sleeping;
They
know when you’re awake;
They
know if you’ve been bad or good,
So
be good for goodness sake! – with good meaning that you’ve cleaned your kitchen
counters, sealed all food away, and picked up the dog’s dish.
So,
I arrived in my kitchen this morning to discover that my rather lax effort to
clean the kitchen after last night’s late supper had provided the enemy just
the opportunity for which she (I’ll call her “she”) was waiting. Specifically, she
gnawed a bread sack containing a couple of slices of stale bread. (Yes, I know -- the photo is blurred.) I’m sure she
hoped the crumbs she left to dry will be available to her tonight. Ha! Will she
ever be surprised by my clever foil!
So,
today is the day. The kitchen must be cleaned from stem to stern. The task
seems daunting. Unlike my mother-in-law, my husband, and my daughter, my
make-up is anything but methodical. Although I appreciate method and system and
acknowledge that those who move the world must be methodical, I am a dreamer. I take comfort in knowing that the movers
must have the dreamers and the dreamers the movers in order that the world
might be balanced. Nevertheless, philosophy did not help today when I had to
clean the kitchen. I took a deep breath and told myself that today I only have
to do the counters and the stove.
Yes,
that’s it – just the counters and the stove. I can do it.
No
sympathy for the enemy now. That’s treason talk. No mention of how cute they
are either. KW
Tomorrow:
A Trip to the Attic
5 comments:
I'm so sorry you have to deal with this over and over. Good thing you've got gumption!! You go, girl!!! (And that applies to the mouse, to--Go, as in begone, girl!!)
Meanwhile, I'm going to go give Buddy a pat and tell him how much I appreciate him. :-)
Yes, we've had the cat discussion before. Mike's afraid to bring a cat into this environment -- thinks it would be cruel. He also wants to protect the bird population, which is slowly coming back since we've been here and paying attention.
And remember -- I have to write about something. It just as well be the mice. Or it could be the deer, who are eating everything that isn't fenced, even stuff they don't really like.
Are they making mice traps differently these days? What's that big orange piece?
I also vote for no cat (not that I have a vote). Protecting the bird population is very important. The birds already have snakes to contend with.
We have several old-type traps with metal tongue. New traps have a wide, flat tongue. Any I've seen have been yellow orange. In reviewing online articles about trapping mice, they say humans err in not putting out enough traps. The update will be in today's post.
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