My in-laws assured me that, living on a farm, mice in the house was a matter of if, not when. "When it starts to get cool," they warned, "make sure you are fighting the battle." I didn't want to believe them. Surely if I keep things clean and make sure the doors stay closed they will leave us alone, I reasoned. Sadly, I was mistaken.In the middle of the night on Monday I woke to noises in our master bathroom. I thought Chatterbox was in there, as she often is in the night, and I called her name several times, with no answer. A few seconds into it, D was awake and the noises were still going strong, so he got up and flipped on the light. All noise ceased. Since my options were a burgler or a mouse, I grudgingly admitted to myself that, indeed, the battle must now be fought. We spent Tuesday evening scattering poison and traps. Armaments in place, I kind of forgot about it all.
If you're itching already, read the next bit carefully. This morning I opened the pantry door to get some granola bars for the diaper bag. As I closed it, I caught a slightly different scent than I was used to. (It wasn't anything horrible, just a little something's changed kind of smell.) I leaned to my right to glance at the trap I knew was in the bottom left corner. AAAARRRGH! I started heaving. There was something in it. Yuck, yuck, yuck!!! I ran, frenzied, to the opposite end of the house, clutching my cell phone, and then called my father-in-law in frightened desperation. Then I went outside to wait for him, leaving my kids watching Tigger and Pooh. (Breathe in. Breathe out.)
Within a minute, I heard his boisterous laugh echoing from his garage. He breezed in and took care of the mess, while teasing me good-naturedly ("Don't you want to stuff your first mouse?" and "So, are you going to keep a tally of all the mice you get?" being a couple of the better ones). Then he started to explain how to change the trap. I stopped him right there. There are plenty of dirty jobs I will do for my family, but this is not one of them. "I will not be touching those," I stated emphatically. He laughed at me again and out he went.
I'm trying to be cheerful and brave in the face of new experiences, but come on! There is a limit to what I can smile through.
9 comments:
Ew. Mice are icky anywhere in your house, but especially scary in your bedroom in the middle of the night. Good think the father-in-law is right next door. Are mice better or worse than cockroaches? : )
Have I ever told you about when we babysat Rick and Jodie's kids when they went away? I was still in school and Mindy spent most of the time in SLC at Rick's place. One night she called me in a panic because several mice had come from the basement and were following her around the house. The war was on, and we killed about 5 that weekend (3 babies and 2 big'ens). It was disgusting.
Then there was that time that something crawled in Scott's wall and died. His room smelled like death for about 3 months, so what did we do? The only logical thing TO do. We made turned our beds into bunkbeds in my room, shut the door to his, and didn't re-enter for 3-4 months. Once decomposition was complete, we put his bed back in and things went back to normal.
Jeffy, I don't know whether to laugh or cry (I really hope I don't end up with mice following me around the house!) at your story. I DO remember the death smell in the basement, though. Mice are nice.
Amy, your question gives me pause. Based on my own personal roach experience, I choose them. I only ever saw about half a dozen and they were easy to get rid of. However, I really wonder whether it would be worse to have a roach or mouse infestation. Probably mouse. They're bigger and hairier. But if the roaches fly ...
Hi Emily...It's Amy Pollary. I recently found your blog from Anna. I've enjoyed reading your all about your exciting adventures. Congrats on the marathon! And about the mouse...be grateful that is was only a mouse. We battled a RAT here in Colorado about a month after we got here. NASTY and I too would have nothing to do with it!
Oh my goodness! I think I would freak if I saw a mouse in my house! I do not like them in a box, I do not like them with a fox...(I couldn't resist).
The big issue here is Cockroaches. So far we have lucked out...meaning we have never had one in our house....UNTIL yesterday! Weston came home from his first day of work and saw two in the kitchen! Pest control just came like 2 weeks ago too!
I don't know what I'm going to do now...I've officially got roaches!
Yikes, EL, good luck with that. Cockroaches are not fun. What kind do you have?
Why do pests have to exist? And don't give me the old, "opposition" thing. (Just kidding). But really. They are SOOOO icky.
They are the creepy kind! I'm not sure what species...he stepped on them before I got there to look. Thankfully, they were still pretty small. He stepped on them before I could get a look. Hopefully not the flying kind or the hissing cockroaches.
I think this whole rodent post has jinxed me...today my landlord stopped by and just as I was shutting the screen door a baby snake about 10 inches long tried to slither in. I just about fainted! Luckily, he chased it off with a stick. Safe to say that Weston is gonna have to do the weeding alone this weekend!
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