Friday, December 18, 2015

Batteries and Beasts



     I remember when I was a child and had the epiphany that whatever the size of your problem, if it was the only one you had, it was large to you.  


          We had a few small blips this morning. I was tootling home from my class at the YMCA and there was my husband just standing in our tiny center of town, looking oddly hesitant. I continued on – I mean, he was upright and all – but thanks to the magic of Bluetooth in my car, I phoned him.

          It seems that after his morning gossip discussion session over coffee at the village store with the guys broke up, he went out to his car to discover he’d left the lights on. You know what that means. By this time everyone and their jumper cables had driven away. When I spotted him, he was reluctantly going to the little gas station that sits on one of town center’s four corners. 


          He was dragging his feet because the last thing we want to do is deal with this gas station owner. The last time we did was when we took our lawn mower down for repair and the owner drained the gas out of it, and then charged us to replace it.  So my call was very welcome. 


          I returned to the scene, we jumped his car, and off he went to build up the battery. I went home and down to the basement to throw in a load of towels and bathmats. Towels in the washer, first bathmat, and when I reached for the second bathmat, there sat a little pile of sunflower seeds. 


          This year I had bought magical – and somewhat expensive - anti-mouse clicky things that plug into the outlets and supposedly ward off incoming visitors. Yeah, well. 


          So out came the mouse traps and on went the bait. Last year we caught 22 mice in our basement. I really hope we don’t break that record this year.

15 comments:

  1. It's that time of year, when the critters look for warmth. We had one horrendous year of this some time ago, when the mice caught numbered in the double digits, too.

    Good luck.

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  2. No mice this year and we are happy. Lots of voles or moles though throughout the lawn!

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    1. Same here. Now that our beloved cat -and ruthless hunter - is gone, our front yard is a deathtrap of holes, lumps, and soft spots.

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  3. We bought one of those rodent thingies too. Fail.
    Fortunately the cats are up to the job. Mostly.

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  4. We're missing our outdoor hunter, too, but my sister is adament about keeping cats indoors, so that is that. It is so interesting that Toby, rescued as a 4 week old feral kitten, has no desire to cross the threshold. As for the indoor mice, he has worried one to death and the rest sucumb to the traps.

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  5. If you both had phones, why didn't he call you?

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    Replies
    1. He likely figured I was still in the pool at the Y.

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  6. Glad you were in the right place at the right time! :-)

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  7. Sounds like it's time to find a hungry cat to spend some time in your basement.

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    1. You know, it's funny. Our last two cats were terrific hunters, and even specialized. Sydney was more into reptiles - frogs, snakes. Satchel was the one-cat machine of destruction for everything else. Maybe they figured their day job was outside, because they were very little help with the basement visitors.

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  8. Traps and baits are really the only things that work, if only the mice would stay in the fields instead of our homes and barns. But of course home is where the food is....
    So glad you spotted your hubby when he needed you.

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  9. 22 mice? Oh, here's hoping that remains your record. :-)

    Greetings from London.

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  10. I hope not, too! Wonder how they're getting in?

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  11. Is there anywhere a mouse can't get? It is amazing that we have never seen a mouse in our house, living out here in the woods. The hen house now is another story. The mice eat more laying mash then the hens.

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    Replies
    1. Judging by the little visitor's urge to stockpile, we're beginning to think chipmunk.

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