Mouse War!
Since the Wednesday before Christmas Snowflake and I have been waging a war against mice! That’s when I saw my first one jump down out of my kitchen cupboards when a measuring cup fell out. That evening Snowflake caught one but had not killed it, so it got away, and we both hunted for it earnestly. I saw it later, going under my bed, and you should have seen me try to locate and stomp on it with an empty boot. I saw another one in the bathroom, so I set some traps even though it was past midnight.
The next morning I found one dead mouse in a trap. I was away all day, but that evening Snowflake brought me a dead one to show. I praised him highly. “You’re catching on! These are NOT toys!”
Then began a week of setting traps, sometimes both morning and night, and I began to keep score. That Saturday and Sunday I dispatched two from the traps to the garbage each day. By Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, it was three a day! One night I had just reset the trap (under the sink area in the kitchen was the most effective), and when I went around the corner into the bathroom I heard that trap go snap, and a squeak-squeak!
Goodness! I thought, they are lining up for a try at that peanut butter in the trap!
Then the numbers went down again. On Saturday I stepped on a dead one lying by the dryer down in the basement when I went to check my laundry. At the moment that’s the last one, making a total of 18 dead mice.
I sure hope that’s the last one. I was beginning to think all the neighbours were sending theirs over to my house!
And yes, it’s the bitterly cold temperatures that are driving them inside - I know.