Wednesday, September 16, 2015

There's a Mouse in the House (Again)

Y'all, I'm so tired of dealing with mice, or a mouse. Who knows if there is one or nine? Not me and I don't want to know. 

A few years ago when The Tide was still alive, I suspected there was a mouse in the house because she was get pretty fired up on occasion when she was in the kitchen, going so far as to try and stick her whole body under the cabinet to find what was then referred to as The Rodent. My bug man (God bless him) put some pellets under the house that I guess are delicious to mice and will kill them and then they basically disintegrate or something along those lines and soon enough The Rodent was gone...or so I thought.  Actually, that particular rodent is probably gone along with his buddies. Who know, the underside of my house may be filled with mouse skeletons. 

I'd also like to take this opportunity to point out that I never had a rodent problem until I had to have the floors in the back bedroom replaced and the plumbing redone. The guy that did the work didn't plumb the line to the drainage line as he should have, but instead knocked a hole in the bottom of the foundation and I have no doubt that's when mice found a way to get under my house and have loads of fun at my expense. A good plumber i hard to find, y'all. If it weren't the grossest job ever I might actually consider going into that line of work. Good plumbers are a dying breed. 

Anyway, on with the story. So, last winter, after a year off (or so I'm telling myself) the mouse/mice returned. I found droppings under the stove and in the drawer under the stove and had to promptly remove everything and clean and wash and clean and wash. The bug man once again placed his magic pellets under the house and I  waited with baited breath for the mouse/mice to disappear. I think I heard it/them at night too and am pretty sure they were eating food from Pip's bowl (bless her). I would yell at the mouse for it to go away, but to no avail. I think eventually it/they either died from the pellets (fingers crossed) or moved on to another house which brings us to this summer. 

Seriously, this summer has been the worst. I have found droppings in the drawer that holds my kitchen towels and occasionally on the counter tops in the kitchen which has led me to do some vigorous cleaning on more than one occasion. Then, a couple of weekends ago, I noticed that there were droppings in the linen closet where my jeans and sweatshirts are also kept. So, I had to empty that closet, scrub out the closet and wash about 10 loads of laundry that had been sitting on the shelves in that closet. 

This past Thursday the bug man came and I asked him to once again put out his magic pellets (for the second month in a row). The mouse/mice are either becoming immune to the pellets or different mice are coming in after others pass on to the great mouse heaven in the sky because it seems like a never ending battle. The bug man said that the mice have been bad already this year at other homes that he services. So, perhaps they are taking over the neighborhoods of Madison County, I don't know; but I am ready for them to move on over to Marshall County or elsewhere.

On Monday night, well, really Tuesday morning about 1:45 a.m. I awoke to a loud crash that sounded like dishes falling onto the tile floor in my laundry/bonus room. It startled me at first, but I figured that no one was in the house because if someone had opened the door surely Pip would have woken up. Of course, being awake meant I then needed a bathroom break before continuing the last few hours of slumber. I figured whatever had broken (if anything) could wait until I was awake. 

A few hours later when I woke up, I discovered that some dishes had been knocked over. I was first concerned that something had fallen out of the top of the laundry closet, but never heard anything hit the washer or dryer so wasn't really sure. I have some mixing bowls and deviled egg trays stacked up under my little table in the bonus room. These are extras for when someone gets married and I need a gift to give. These had toppled over so there's no doubt in my mind that the big ole mouse ran beside those dishes and toppled them over causing quite a fright in the middle of the night. 

I think it probably goes without saying that I'm really hoping this latest round of magic pellets does the trick on this latest round of mice/mouse/rodent because being woken in the middle of the night and finding mouse droppings in the linen closet are not my idea of fun. 

3 comments:

Erika said...

All you need is good cat!!!!! :) :) :)

Mice are disgusting little creatures, aren't they??? YUCK.

Sorry you're having such a time with them, and really sorry your dishes broke :( :(

Candy said...

We get them every fall and winter! Let me tell you, I would rather have spiders and crickets than mice! They scare the mess out of me and I can't stand how dirty they are. They mainly go from my pantry across the kitchen and under the washer/dryer. We use some kind of poison Andrew bout at the co-op and use sticky traps to catch them. We've had good luck with them. Go around the outside of your house and look for any tiny holes. Plug them up with steel pads (like to scrub pots/pans)...it's the only thing they can't chew through. After we did that we've noticed the sightings dropped! Good luck!

Candy said...

^^^andrew bought^^^^ stupid phone 😡