Well, you didn't expect it to be called a country farmhouse without a mouse did you? Now that you've heard about the mud part, it's part two in the saga of Looney Lane.
It all started when the seven of us had just sat down to dinner. As we were eating our tacos, chips and fruit Cade noticed something...
Cade- "Mom, look at that is that a...no...is that a hole in the bottom of the chips?"
Mom- "Yeah, I think it is."
Claire - "What if it were a mouse, wouldn't that be funny?"
Kailyn - "We had enough mice trouble in California!"
Dad - "It probably just got caught on something."
There was nothing to do but transfer the chips into plastic bags so that they wouldn't get stale. And we left it at that. But the next day as we took a fresh bag of chips down from the cupboard what do you know? A bite-sized hole rested in the very bottom corner of the Costco tortilla chips bag. A quick search revealed many more holes in various bags. After clearing out the top shelf we found mouse droppings scattered across our newly cleaned cupboards.
That evening, while we listened to a mouse scrambling around in our cupboard my dad did a great job of comforting our fears by telling us about a mouse who used to crawl through his bed. He said he had eventually killed it by throwing an army jacket over it and stomping on it until it died.
The next day as we opened various cupboards we found mouse droppings in almost every one. We evacuated our cupboards and put mouse traps and sticky pads in them. That night the comforting message of the evening was when my dad said that since there was no food in the cupboards anymore the mice would move up to higher ground: our bedrooms.
After we went to bed we heard a scream! My mom had opened the only cupboard we hadn't guarded with traps and saw the mouse chewing away at our 50 pound unopened bag of rice. By now I am thoroughly freaked out at the prospect of a mouse appearing unannounced around any corner.
The next morning, Saturday morning I wake up at 8:00 to my dad screaming, "We caught him! Come on kids! We caught that dastardly mouse! Come on kids! We caught that dastardly mouse! We caught him!!!" A sleepy trip downstairs reveals the presence of not one but two mice trapped on a sticky pad. I guess you know what happens next...
Our Saturday morning was spent scrubbing out cupboards and hand washing many tupper wares and pans. We've been told that 'it's all a part of country life' but needless to say we're all hoping that we've seen the last of the mice here on Looney Lane...
We had mice when we first moved into our house in Illinois too. At one point, we were catching about three each day! Gross! Here's a hint-on the standard mouse traps, use black licorice with peanut butter slathered on top for bait. We found that peanut butter is one of their favorites, but we'd always find the traps licked clean of any peanut butter with no mouse to be found! They also like black licorice, so we put the two together so as they sunk their teeth into the licorice, it triggered the trap. We also found we kept getting them until we got expanding foam insulator in a can, and used it to seal all the holes on the outside of the house (like around pipes were the water or gas comes in). A lot of work but it is nice when they are finally gone!
ReplyDeleteOh dear! We are so sorry! I bet the mouse is totally looney that you have moved onto Looney Lane! We are trying hard not to laugh at this story because we know how frustrating mice can be, and we are trying not to cry when we drive past your street. I cried when I saw Mitzi signing for Wendy at church...I love you. How can I pray for you this week?
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