Mouse House

Since moving to the country this past year, we've had a few things to adjust to.... Driving to "big town" to do big box shopping (wal-mart, Target, big grocery stores, etc.), getting stuck behind "putzers" on windy country roads that you can't pass on, having to store all of our crackers and cookies in airtight containers so that they don't get stale (living near the woods and by a stream, the house is perpetually damp), and the biggest adjustment.... critters.

When we lived in a new house in a subdivision in Kansas City, things were pretty air tight. Sure, we had the occasional spider in the house, a few ants in the spring, and a ladybug here and there in the fall, but this is a whole new ball game for us here. This old house is anything but air tight... I've got exposed lathe, a partial dirt floor in the basement (called a cellar back here), and a laundry room where I can see the backside of my exterior clapboard siding.... critters can pretty much waltz right into the house.. and they do.

For starters, our neighbors informed us when we first moved in, that we have a very large woodchuck living under our barn. My neighbor on one side, told me that it used to live in her yard, and she scared it down to our house. (thank you)... another neighbor came over tell us about our woodchuck, and asked us if we wanted him to come over and shoot it. (no thanks! but thanks for the offer!.. yikes.) I haven't seen the woodchuck yet, but when Mr. Spackle was out grilling one night this summer, "chuck" ran out across the driveway.... Mr. Spackle says he's the size of a dog. (wonderful)

Then in June..... we had a bat fly into the house in the middle of the night, (not fun) and it led to a series of events that stressed me out for two days, and now I know more about rabies and bats than I ever wanted to. ** (if you're interested, you can read the cliff notes version of the bat story at the end of this post)

So last week I was typing at the computer, and I heard a rustling. It took me a while to place the sound .... it was coming from inside the wall of the computer room, next to my daughter's room (otherwise known as "the bat cave" since that's where the bat came in). It didn't sound like a loud rustling, so I figured it was a mouse, and hoped that he would go out the same way that he came in ... mostly because we just paid a bazillion dollars to have our house rewired, and I don't want mickey the field mouse nibbling on my wiring. Thankfully, mice don't bother me, since my son had a pet mouse for a few years (may Stinky rest in peace), and we just bought him a new pet mouse last weekend... so mice I can handle...I'd just rather not have him living in the wall.

By the way, this is our new pet mouse, Alice. (do you recognize the yarns that she's playing in?)

So last night at 1:30 am, Miss H. wakes us up to tell us that our cat is frantically running around in circles...making moaning sounds. We come in, expecting to see the mouse from the wall, and see nothing. My guess is that hearing the mouse rustle inside the wall is freaking out the cat. "Go back to sleep Miss H... there's nothing in your room, you're just paranoid because of the whole 'bat incident'."

So tonight, I look into her room and notice that our cat has been sitting in the exact same spot on the rug all day long. I look closer, and see that she is keeping watch over a bump in the carpet. Oy. Sure enough, we look under there with a flashlight and see the little wall mouse huddled up, probably thinking that his days are over. We gently nudged him out, got him into a box, gave him some of Alice's food, and let him go in the field out behind our house. Now that we've had pet mice, I could never set a mouse trap, or put out mouse poison.

Here he is... Nibbling on what is probably gourmet mouse food for him. Poor little guy. He'll probably be back for more.

Scroll down if you want to read the bat story... and yes, I hope to have some knitting and/or spinning content for you soon. :)






** (bat came into daughters room, cat woke us up to tell us, cat attacked the bat, husband finished job with broom, cat not up to date on rabies, daughter considered exposure, bat needs to be tested to determine if rabid, leaving for Disney in 2 days, happened on day of my wedding anniversary, dinner plans that night, no time to mail bat from vet since we need to fly to Disney and must have results before we go, I have to drive bat to "bat lab" one hour away so that it can be tested on time, bat might not be testable due to husband beating the heck out of it with broom, if not testable... they have to consider it positive for rabies, if rabid... daughter needs 28 day course of shots and cat needs to be quarantined for 6 months and daughter will have to get shots while on vacation at Disney, I lose it and cry the whole way to "bat lab", "bat tester man" so nice to me that I start to cry and blubber about our whole ordeal, drive home a wreck, try to smile and pick kids up from school without letting on that Disney could be ruined and cat could be quarantined, come home and get a call from the lab that our bat tested negative for rabies, yelled "hallelujah, thank you Jesus", got dressed for our anniversary dinner, had a LOT of wine with dinner and celebrated being married and rabies free for 15 years.)