(no subject)

so, i'm in the shower... rinsing my earrings with saline... getting ready to rinse the conditioner out of my hair... when boy calls out, "I CAUGHT A MOUSE!"

i peek around the shower curtain. he's holding a large grocery bag, with the top closed.

"QUICK!" I cry, "Put the bag in something plastic before it chews through the paper!"

So he grabs the bathroom trash can, pulls the bag in it out, and puts the bag in, then tops it with a foil roasting pan.

i rinse out my hair and quickly get dressed.

we drive down to the field/woods where we set the previous rodent tenant loose. tom unrolls the paper bag and tilts it toward the field. the mouse springs out and runs far away (unlike the first mouse, which ran under the car).

i feel a little bad turning it loose on a cold and rainy night, but voles and mice LIVE out there. it'll find something to live in or it won't. not my problem, i suppose.

cheeky little thing. tom was sitting in the kitchen EATING when it jumped OUT of one grocery sack into another. i hadn't put the canned goods or rutabagas away yet (i don't leave pasta or flour or anything like that out). it jumped IN FRONT OF HIM. i'm glad he thought quickly.

of course, one of these mice SAT on his FOOT while he was meditating one morning.

cheeky.

(no subject)

we STILL have mice.

found more poop today.

i'm going to start painting their butts to make sure they're not wandering a few miles home just retain their property.

these seem to be very cheeky young mice. if they had spray paint, i've no doubt they'd be tagging the toaster.

d

(no subject)

happy belated birthday, swy1974!!

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(no subject)

KikkoMan!

my grandparents brought me back one of those plastic fish containers of soy sauce when they visited Hawaii about twenty years ago.

Æ

(no subject)

so, we're sitting in the living room, listening to worldlinktv...

when we hear the rustling of plastic bags.

tom quietly stalks into the kitchen, but says he can't see anything. he sits back down.

a few minutes later, we hear it again.

tom stalks again, this time he says he thinks we're hearing the mouse LEAVING the bags. i pointed out that it probably jumped into another bag and we've only heard it in a couple (i have rutabags and turnips, along with canned goods, in those bags)...

well, i start pulling out cans to wash and put away. then i get to the third bag. i see that someone has put the new bag of hamburger buns (we buy them at whole foods) in a paper bag. it was on the kitchen table yesterday afternoon and *i* didn't have a hamburger for dinner like someone i know.

i lift out the buns. a mouse stares up at me from inside the paper bag.

"FOUND IT!" i yell as i grab the bag and close it. boy and i run to the living room with the bag, put on shoes, and jump in the car to release this mouse in the muddy field.

i'm wearing my bathrobe, my hair is in braids, i have my glasses on. i put on my wooden/leather swedish clogs. quite a sight, i'm sure.

so, time it clean surfaces in the kitchen again, then if more poop shows up, the cursing will start anew.

score:
victor green trapdoor trap: 0
victor gray one-mouse traps: 0
tomcat trap: 1 (and several failures)
paper grocery bag: 2


yeah. you get the moral of my story?

forget traps and poison. all you need is a little luck.... and paper grocery sacks. plastic bags in them so you can hear when the mouse explores. quick thinking and acting.

i offered to let boy drop kick the eaten-into bag of buns (only thing breached) into the yard (it's a habit we cherish), but we decided to toss it in a paper bag as bait, in case we have MORE mice.

dinner

penne with a cream sauce, cherry tomatoes, and peas
red mustard greens sauteed with lemon, garlic, and fennel
apple cider

yum.

µ

(no subject)

well, terminal ready will be at the dawning this coming saturday. since tom and i cannot miss this show, we'll be driving up to philly for thanksgiving week on sunday (not friday, as we had planned).

yay! Terminal Ready concert goodness! woohoo!