Yes I'm back and fighting mice

Things have kept me hopping, so there was no blogging! Between PT and going to the SSB, I haven't been here.

The SSB was quite an experience this time. We hadn't been there in about 10 weeks, so I guess the mice thought they had a new residence. We used to be vigilant about anything being left out that could be considered food by vermin. Well, we left a bag of bird seed on the kitchen counter.

When I walked in and turned on a light, there were bird seed hulls scattered all over the one counter in the kitchen! I was sickened. I hate mice in the house - unless they are pets. Wild mice do not belong in my house. I have to say wild mice because I was the one who accepted a rat as a pet when I was teaching and cried when we had to put her down due to cancer.

But in this case I could tell they had made themselves at home. The first thing I did was to check the drawers. They didn't make nests there this time. So G got the vacuum cleaner to get all that up, and I set about sterilizing the counters and the things on them.

It was bedtime when I opened the drawer that I keep my PJ's in. Apparently "they" found something cottony to make the bed/nest from. I was almost sure that I would find the little wiggly pink babies there. But I didn't. All PJ's went into the washer.

At about 4:30 the next morning (no one knows for sure), the power went off. There went all things electrical, and alas, our house is all electric. There was no breakfast to be made, no coffee (gasp), no washing of mouse infected PJ's. So, we went to town.

The roads, being dirt, were in terrible shape. The main road that leads more directly to town had been closed because at least two people had gotten stuck. At any rate, our truck looks like some kid had it and gone far, far off road. It has about 10 pounds of mud stuck on it.

The trip to town was good. Not only did we get delicious breakfasts, we got to the grocery store to find items to fight the invasion since the little pile of bird seed I set out was gone. I bought sticky traps because with Shadow and Simone in the house, I didn't want poison. When I opened them, the sticky is about 2 inches by 4 inches. On the package they are rated for mice and rats (????).

I set one out the next night. (oh, our lights came on about 5 pm) When I got up the next morning, I looked at the sticky trap. The creature was able to eat the sticky glue as well as the bird seed that I put there to attract it.

The following day we went to another town. They only have one store, a feed store. G decided we would get poison to throw under the house. We did. I thought the creatures were getting in around the dryer vent that has to go through the floor, so we flooded that with caulk. I also thought that the door from the utility room to the kitchen was tight enough it would keep the creatures in the utility room. I'm not sure.

So upon leaving, I used duct tape to put two sticky traps together and left it on the counter. I also left the package of poison - sealed. We'll see. The mice were in other places, but I think the entry point this time is the utility room. Hope the stuff under the house works.

Hope you are critter proof!

Peace be with you.