House and Mouse Wars

Aaaaaaand....I'm back once again.  Despite any reports to the contrary, I am still alive, and despite my best efforts still somewhat sane.

So much blog fodder has floated by lately, but I've not gotten a whole lot of computer time or a whole lot of motivation to devote to the task.  I'm still mostly stuck in my own little personal bubble of battling this house, slowly plodding toward the big finish.  Marden has FINALLY finished the year+ long military class that's been keeping him so busy and driving me out of my mind, and now we're at last getting some good chunks of time together - a phenomenon which has happened way too little over the past year.  It's too bad it has to be spent on this house.  But, we'd be a whole lot farther from the finish if it weren't for the help of my parents - who are still coming to my rescue, despite the huge eye rolls and sighs from my brothers.

Mom spent last week here helping me while Marden was in New Jersey at the Army's beck and call, and we made some awesome headway - I painted two rooms and laid flooring with wild abandon while Mom cleaned, organized, put-away, and did an excellent job of painting doors and trim.  Not to mention she fixed all our meals - it's a great help when you don't have to stop what you're doing to make a salad or sandwich.  We're now down to finishing the flooring in the main part of the house, changing out the sliding patio door, laying vinyl floor and installing a new vanity in the small bathroom, and installing trim throughout the house.  Ok...when put that way, we still have a LOT to do....but it's still on the downhill side of what we've done.

One thing I discovered during Mom's stay - a mouse in the house can instantly turn two adult, self-sufficient, strong women into screaming little girls.  One night right after we went to our beds, exhausted from a long day, we both got up to investigate a big ruckus coming from one of the un-floored rooms.  Puck had cornered a mouse, but he didn't quite know what to do with it.  We didn't know what to do either, so Mom yelled, "Puck has a mouse!", and I yelled, "EW!"

Anyone should be able to tell pretty quick that I'm very much a critter-person.  I love animals, and have always had and likely will always have a menagerie of pets.  I don't get wigged out at bugs in the house (except roaches), and on several occasions I've gently removed spiders to the outdoors for my husband.  If it's not a brown recluse, it gets a free pass.  (Sorry brown recluses - you get a squish).  It used to greatly disturb hubby that I let those little black jumping spiders live in the house with us, but he's gotten used to my spider-tolerating  antics.  HOWEVER - I draw a big fat line at roaches and mice.  If I'm outdoors, a mouse can be my friend.  Indoors - it's war. 

Back to the mouse - Puck was alternating between catching the mouse and letting it go, while Mom and I danced around, following the battle in our pajamas and making noises like, "OH!" and "EEK!" and "GAH!"  During one of it's escape attempts, it ran into my bedroom and Mom saw fit to yell, "HAHA!  It's in YOUR bedroom now!", while I yelled, "NOOOOOO!" The mouse must've heard, because it immediately did a one-eighty for Mom's room, and I yelled, "HA!  Now it's in YOUR bedroom!"  Mom wasn't so smug then.  The mouse/Puck conflagration made it's way all over the house, pausing now and then for both combatants to rest, while Mom and I had short, frantic discussions on what to do, both of us being barefoot and unarmed.  It's difficult to keep an eye on a darting mouse while looking for a weapon, though at one point I did don a pair of flipflops and attempt what Mom could only describe as to Riverdance on the mouse.  The battle finally ended up as a cat-mouse standoff in a bedroom closet.  I could see Puck losing interest, and the mouse was terrified, looking to bolt, so I ended the chase with a whack from a piece of hastily grabbed laminate floor.  Anyone wanting to scream "animal abuse!" has never had a mouse skitter across their bare toes.  I suppose I'm a hypocrite for all of my "thou shalt not kill snakes" preaching while displaying extreme intolerance for mice, but I've never had a snake get in my cabinets, chew through stuff, sample my food, and leave little "presents" laying around.  To my knowledge there have never been mass snake infestations laying waste to crops and spreading diseases.  In fact, snakes are extremely important for keeping rodent populations in check.  And snakes can be pretty and don't have fleas.  So there.

Speaking of snakes - I offered the poor deceased to our pet corn snake, Orville, but he turned up his nose.  I guess when you're used to being served freshly thawed, sterile, white mice from the pet store, a freshly-killed wild brown mouse is below your standards.  I wonder if they're lower in cholesterol?  Orville evidently is not interested in health food.

Anyway - the house now seems a mouse-free zone, though I've set a few traps in cabinets just to be sure.  The former residents lived in such squalor we're probably lucky to have only seen one so far.  The adventures just never end.