Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Eeeeeeek!

Nothing much to blog about lately, until today. Of course, the title gives this one away. Calmly watching the second or third hour of HGTV last evening and, surprisingly, still awake and relatively alert, what to my wondering eyes should appear? No, not Santa, but a moderately large brown rodent slipping quietly into the room in front of me. Eeeeeek! Dogs barking, they and I rushed forward, purposelessly and ineffectually, as it turned around and quickly scurried back from whence it had come. I think it was probably a vole, rather than a little house mouse, or whatever the other things are called.

First order of business today: Contact exterminator. Next to get a couple mouse traps, and third to buy peanut butter. Smallest jar I could find was $3.29, and assuming I'm not setting and resetting the traps more than a few times, I have a lot of peanut butter to use up in the next few months.

The traps are now set and, luckily for me, my fingers are still intact. Those damned things snap shut fast and hard. My exterminator comes, hopefully, tomorrow to find out where it came in and take other appropriate steps. Thankfully, I saw and, hopefully, will catch this invading villain now, before it might take over the house in my winter absence. My angels again are intervening in a timely manner to protect me. All of that sensible logic did not, however, keep me from feeling creepy when I went to bed, knowing I was sharing my home with that icky little thing, and I had a bit of trouble falling asleep.

6 comments:

  1. Did you buy "A Better Mousetrap?" Plastic, easily reusable, effective, and you don't snap your fingers off. And really, an exterminator for one mouse?? It might have just been a random fall mouse. Not likely to be a vole.

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  2. Actually, the mousetrap I bought is great for the human who sets it, but the mouse has had a nice treat nibbling off the peanut butter and escaping any harm. I'm not a mouse expert, but my experience with small ones is that they "dart" quickly, but you don't know for sure that you've even seen it. This one was slow enough to get a good look at, but not slow enough to catch. I have had voles in my house in the past, so I don't think a vole is an unlikely possibility. And who are you? How can you have credibility if you are anonymous?

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  3. Hi Ellen,
    It's me, Laurie. I couldn't understand how to post my comment as 'me' because none of the profiles seemed to fit. I don't have a URL! ;-)
    Anyway, back to the mouse. I have quite a bit of mouse experience (they are co-owners of our cabin), and have seen voles outside but never inside. If you have had them in the past...well, you must be right. Maybe they are too smart for your average mousetrap. Still, see if you can find "A Better Mousetrap." I swear by them! The peanut butter isn't even eaten. It's like catching a fish and the worm is still on the hook!

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  4. Laurie: First off, I need an exterminator to determine where they got in. I'm leaving her for 5 months, and there is someplace where thy can get in. I don't want to come back to a houseful of them. I'll check the better mousetrap, as the one they sold me allows the mouse to lick off the peanut butter with absolutely no consequences. And the exterminator is very busy. I hope it's only one or two, and I need to find out where it got in. Hear you're having a lot of really awful weather out there. Stay off the roads and keep warm.

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  5. Oh yes, don't want the mice taking over! Ugh. I have had one or two randoms here, but in Minn. they always seemed to come in and multiply.
    Steve and Anna are here and have been stuck for an extra day. We had about 18 inches of snow here, but it looks like more. I am going to try to upload a couple of pictures to FB. They are going to try to get out tomorrow. It's been fun anyway, shoveling, playing games, shoveling....
    Have a good trip down! And don't forget to pack your shovel and boots!

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  6. I figured out you can do name without URL...

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