Does this look like the face of a hunter?
About a week ago, K and I had done our weekly grocery shopping and as we were unloading the car, K yelled, “Don’t come in the house!” Of course that piqued my interest.
“Cat mess?” I yelled back from the car.
“Mouse,” was the reply I received.
Mouse? Yes, mouse. Well, I’m not terrified of a mouse so I went in the house to see the dead vermin laying in our foyer. No picture. Aren’t you glad? Who wants to see a dead mouse?
Back story is: only once in my life before have I dealt with rodents. About two winters ago, 2 little mice got into this house and within a week, my landlord had assisted me in killing them (sorry, bleeding hearts, but any unwarranted entrance into my home is my license to kill). Then a few weeks ago, I kept smelling something… dead in the house. It smelled vaguely of dead fish. It completely eluded us what this smell could be. I looked and sniffed and never sussed it out. I presume this mouse had been dead for a time in our home and little River was the smoking gun. I’m assuming she is also why this corpse made its appearance in our foyer.
It is possible I am wrong though, as we’ve discovered other mouse signs. Now, are those residuals from the departed culprit or did he have an accomplice?
So far I’ve extra cleaned up the kitchen (though it is always clean thanks to K primarily, as I do the brunt of cooking while he tends to carry the brunt of the dishes) and added cotton balls doused in peppermint oil around the spots where we had mouse-signs (I’m being delicate, you can imagine what we found). Peppermint oil is supposed to drive mice away but then again, so are the damned little sonic things I’ve had plugged in since the first mice two years ago. Cats are also supposed to be a deterrent but perhaps the death at the paws of River will spread amongst the mice like gossip. So far, we have no further signs of these evil little critters.
River was rewarded for her feat of bravery: she (and Julian) received some chicken jerky treats and a special bowl of kitty broth. It’s something with herbs that was given to us for them. River loved it. Julian, less so.
Hoping we remain rodent-free. I’m assuming those critters chewed a way into the house from underneath in our crawl space but guess who isn’t going in search?
That’s right: yours truly.