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.
