Kibbitzing With the Herd / Mouse Damage

"Become the calm and restful breeze that tames the violent sea." - Kung Fu.

It was a strange day.

First, I checked my traps and there was no mouse in them. But about a thousand teenie-tiny ants had gathered on the one trap, eating the peanut butter. Ick! I snapped the trap, cut the twine, pulled the trap, wiped it off, rinsed it off, set it out to dry in the sun; reset it later. How do ants even FIND a trap set indoors?

I took my bike out in the morning, and I saw a family of deer hanging out by the milkweed patch about half-way up Tow Hill. I stood and watched as they kibbitzed with one another. In this photo you may see (top to bottom) a buck, two does, and a yearling. They stood on or by the road until a vehicle came down, and then they moved off into the weeds.

I pulled my bike over to the left side of the road, directly across from where that buck was standing, and spotted a perfect daisy, set at just the right angle to get one of those daisy-from-the-back shots I love. I was sort of lying on the edge of the road in front of my bike, with my camera out, snapping away, when the Game Warden showed up. 

I somehow knew he'd do it: he pulled over instantly and asked if everything was okay here. I said, Yep, just taking some pictures, thanks for stopping and checking on me, and he went on his merry way. 

Nice to know we have one around; I hope SOMEbody's protecting the local herd and working on keeping ATVs out of the gamelands. At least we know he knows how to rescue damsels in distress (or merely taking photographs, which isn't distress at all, but may sometimes appear that way to the casual observer).

Later on, I was sitting in the bedroom, messing around on the computer, when the power surged around 1:34 or so in the afternoon. Our two air conditioners flickered. The front A/C in the living room (a Sharp model, more than 30 years old) made a weird popping sound. 

We had some moments of consternation (and a bunch of chatter on the local neighbors' network about who all had experienced the power blip), but the front air conditioner eventually came back on. Whew! A crisis, averted.

But the real kicker came later in the day, when the sun was finally off the driveway enough that my husband could change the cabin air filter in his Chevy Impala. That car is moved several times a week, but not every single day. There had been a less-than-fresh smell in the car for some time. Weeks, even. But nothing identifiable. Husband figured that changing the cabin air filter might help some.

Well, guess what. He started on the task, and then came indoors to nab me. Bring the camera, he said. And in a few seconds, I saw why. My husband had managed to locate and remove the cover for the cabin air filter (it's by the right windshield wiper assembly), and inside it was a very large MOUSE NEST!!! Yuck!

He pulled the old filter out, with mouse nest attached. Grabbed some other junk around it, kept pulling it out. A little dark thing fell out. WAS THAT A MOUSE!???? And indeed it was: a tiny, dark, very dead, very desiccated mouse.

The nest was made primarily of bits of paper towels, little pieces of plastic, and other detritus. I went and got the mini-vac and he vacuumed the last bits out. "Here. Find someplace to get rid of this," he said, as he gestured to the rodent-nest-infested filter. OOOOOH YUCK!!!! MAJOR YUCK! At least now we know where that smell was coming from!

But I took the filter, nest, and deceased rodent (see photo in extras, but only if you can handle it; it's got a dead mouse in it!) back to the edge of the woods, where I proceeded to use a stick to remove all of that crap from the air filter. 

The tidied-up air filter went into a bag, and then three more bags, and then into the garbage can. The deceased rodent was interred with very little pomp and circumstance. It was already dead: I didn't cause it, and I couldn't have stopped it from happening. In the end, I hosed down every surface we could possibly have touched with hand sanitizer.

Now the brand new cabin air filter is installed. The rodent and the nest are gone. My husband also placed some netting over the hole beside the filter where the mice may have been climbing in and out. Water can travel through if it needs to, but we hope, no longer, mice.

This has been the summer of mice. I've removed deceased baby mice from a nest in the shed. We have had a mouse invade our house (traps are still set). And on this day, we removed a mouse and nest from the outside car.

I did, by the way, put the story about the mouse and its nest on Facebook. There are many things people recommend about how to keep mice out of cars. In PA, we experience porcupine damage, as well; they'll chew anything. 

One afternoon, while we were parked in the woods, a porcupine actually chewed on my husband's car door while he was sitting in the front seat! I've also had my best L.L. Bean hiking boots chewed by porcupines while I was sleeping on the ground without a tent, with the boots by my head. No, I never woke up. Not once.

A lot of what you see and hear and read about how to stay rid of rodents is bull-crap, of course; both in-person and online. Get used to this. Have your wits about you. Do your best to discern the truth amid all of the bull-crap.

Backpackers are told to carry moth balls, to place under and around the car. I've heard of placing cedar shavings, rodent repellents, and even rubber snakes under your car. (I tell this to my husband and he laughs long and loud, and with great glee: "Our rats would kick the sh*t out of those rubber snakes," he says.)

A friend suggested placing shavings of Irish Spring soap under the hood. I don't know how well that works as a deterrent, but sure and begorrah, we might at least end up with better-smelling mice! A friend in Utah suggested simply leaving the hood open, and the glove box too, to make those spaces less dark and rodent-friendly for nesting. Hmm. And then there's this.

So there you go. To sum up the day: the tiny pissants got into the mouse trap. I kibbitzed with the herd. I got accosted by a Game Warden, for simply taking pictures of a daisy. We nearly lost an air conditioner to a power blip, but then it revived itself, and lived again. And the Impala is now mouse-and-nest-free, after we completed some disgusting tasks to make it so. That was a BIG day.

Oh, and the quote above? It's from the Kung Fu TV series that we are now watching, episode by episode. I thought it was a good reminder, so we'll let it stand. Stay calm. Focus on the task at hand. Deal with what must be dealt with, no matter how disgusting. Take a picture, write it down, then turn the page.

My soundtrack song is Metallica, covering that Bob Seger classic, Turn the Page (this is a LIVE version).