Of Mice and Me

     Fall is a great time of the year and I like most everything about it.  One thing about fall I am not real fond of are mice trying to invade spaces occupied by humans just because it’s getting a little cold out.  They usually start looking for their winter homes in August and I don’t think they ever give up.  The mice up here are quite persistant and seem to really want to move into a beautiful log cabin rental we clean.

     I don’t like to deal with mice, dead or alive, so I really didn’t want the responsibility of mouse control to be my problem.  I just wanted to go into the cabin, do the cleaning, mind my own business and go home.  After getting my hand snapped by a trap or stuck to a black piece of plastic numerous times I began to realize the mice were my problem.  The owners of this cabin often place those sticky mouse traps all over the place, underneath the couch, on top of a cupboard, squeezed between the wall and a bed, you get the picture.  Unfortunately these folks don’t leave me a diagram of every place there is a trap. So after months of stumbling upon piles of fur that used to be mice I decided to take control.

     As much as I dislike mice, I dislike mouse traps but I dislike mouse turds on pillowcases even more.  I knew something had to be done so I strategically developed a trap line to snare a few of the intruders.  I placed the black sticky traps where piles of poo were found and sure enough I was successful.  Unfortunately for the mice and me, the sticky trap doesn’t kill the mouse.  It just keeps the mouse stuck in one spot until it either starves to death or gives up the fight for life.  I once found one struggling to get free and brought it to Mike.  I was thinking he could peel the mouse off and set the mouse free somewhere else.  He thought otherwise and stomped on the mouse’s head.; At least it was quick and the suffering was over.

     I decided I would try a different type of trap to free the cabin of mice.  I carefully placed peanut butter on the old wooden type of traps and suffered numerous snaps on my fingers while doing so.  "This should do the trick ." I thought as I placed the traps in the middle of their highway.  The next time I went to clean the cabin I was sure I would find all of the traps with mice in them.  Much to my amazement I hadn’t gotten any but all of the peanut butter was gone and the traps hadn’t even gone off.  There were mouse droppings everywhere and this made me mad so I told Mike to pick up some more of those sticky traps in town. 

     I have decided I can no longer sit back and let the mice take over this beautiful cabin.  Any animal who poops while it is eating shouldn’t be allowed to live inside.  This is my personal opinion and I’m sorry if I offend you.  I just don’t think it is OK for these mice to crawl wherever they want, whenever they want.  So, when Mike gets home from town tonight, I’m heading over to the cabin with an arsenal of sticky traps.  Wish me luck…