Now It IS War!!!

I have a mouse, ok... mouses.. mices... mice.. They are cute, big ears and they sort of hop rather than run. And I feel bad when they die..

Usually we get one once in a while. Pimienta used to be the mouser so they didn't hang out for long. They either got trapped by a trap or by the cat. But typically we are in the house and in the workshop and garage enough that they don't hang around. They don't like the light and the noise, and the total lack of food.

But we have been traveling lately. And I haven't been keeping everything buttoned up tight because it is summer. And I like to have to doors open and the windows open. So combine the two and my home has become the perfect hide away for a series of mice. I like to think that I am a serial monogamist when it comes to my relationships with mice. I would rather think that one comes in, dies, and then another comes in, than the alternative- that I have more than one mouse in my house at any time- that skives me out.

Fuchsia has proven to be a great mouser. She chases them till they have little mouse heart attacks and fall over dead. Then they are no more fun, so she moves on to the next interesting thing, leaving them wherever they lay, hopefully for me to find them before I can smell them.

But there has been a rash of the little critters lately. I think they are adorable, except they are uninvited guests. So after another one was discovered today I cleaned and cleaned and cleaned until the shivers stopped running down my spine. Dad bought traps, and even then I was reluctant to set them right away.. until...

I found my size 17 circular needles chewed into and unusable!!!

THIS IS WAR!!

So six peanut butter slathered traps went out into all the places I have seen them or traces of them before. By the water heater, the oil tank, and the heater are on the list, as well as under the freezer. Traps deployed and they are all mine. I take no prisoners and release no POW's, and I no longer feel remorse. They have chewed their last set of needles in this house!!