Saturday, April 22, 2017

Mouse in the house

We have lived in this house for more than 20 years and have not had trouble with mice.  We live on a wooded lot and we have prairie areas on it and plenty of trees.  

 

Yesterday, I opened the door from the kitchen to the garage but I remembered something so I closed it immediately.  Yikes, I thought I saw movement on the cement step just outside the door.  I opened the door again and there it was: a mouse sniffing around.  He was trying to get up the final step into the kitchen.  I don't want to share my place with him.  Ok, it could have been a girl mouse: I can't really tell the difference, especially when the animal is in motion.  My hands were full but I was yelling bad words at the mouse.  He/She/It turned and ran off.  

 

I went downstairs and opened a pack of mousetraps. Ours came in a cellophane package of four and they are supposed to be modern traps that don't need bait. But I don't trust a little piece of yellow plastic with holes in it to convince a cautious mouse it is Swiss cheese.  I put a small amount of peanut butter on the "cheese" and set the trap.  As usual, I had trouble and trapped a bit of my finger.  That part of that finger is bigger, thicker and stronger than a mouse's neckbones but it is still sensitive.  I put some ice on the owie and tried again.  Success in setting the trap.  

 

Out in the garage, the mouse had mounted Lynn's kiln, a substantial climb on a free-standing "barrel" of metal with a stone top.  It was intimidated but the height and the sheer drop off the sides.  I called to Lynn to look out.  The little thing was totally cute in its explorations.  I cautiously slid the trap onto the kiln and it went for the peanut butter instantly.  The sidedoor was open and I took a broom and swept Mousie and trap right out the door where they fell onto the grassy lawn.  Persistently, it recovered from its long arced fall and tried again.  I encouraged it to take a different route.  


I left the trap, re-set and still smeared with protein-rich peanut butter, outside but it was completely untouched today.  I just know it's lurking out there.

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