Jerry's relatives are not welcome here.

I'm ready for sleep, have been tired all day. Here is the tally so far for the past few days:

Number of loads of laundry I hung to dry outside (because the dryer broke...): 5

Number of mice I have caught in my kitchen: 4

Yep, mice. oh joy!

The first two I caught with a humane trap and I released them into the field near the house. I thought I only had one mouse then, but I was surprised to find two in the trap.

(BTW, mice really like peanut butter)

I had also bought sticky traps and they were set out in case the humane traps didn't work. And as I was about to go to bed about 30 minutes ago, I happened to look on the floor where the cabinets and the refrigerator meet. Where I had a sticky trap, and it was full. ~shiver~

Okay, only two mice so it wasn't as full as it could have been. But still, eeeewwww. I didn't want to pick the trap up with my bare hands, so I found some old BBQ tongs that I don't care about anymore. I put the mice into a plastic bag, and that into the big trash outside. The little mice were glued in rather uncomfortable positions, I saw feet going the wrong way, chin and fur stuck down... poor little vermin. Trash day isn't until Friday, but I honestly don't think I can kill the mice. I am gonna let nature take it's course, i.e. starvation or heat stroke inside the trash bin...

But that still feels really bad, I know it would be more merciful to make death quick for them. On the other hand, they are mice. In my house where I live with my children. Part of me wants to say, "Screw em, they can just hang out in the trash till Friday." And then another part of me feels like a bad person, what a horrid way to die, stuck to a trap. I don't want the mess of a snap trap... Arrgh, decisions. For now, tonight I have the glue traps for whomever else there is to catch... ~another shiver~

I have two theories as to how I came to have mice in the house. I have not seen any mouse evidence until about a week ago. Lily saw one in the bathroom, and I finally saw them yesterday, that is when I bought the traps. In looking, I found some mouse poo under the kitchen sink (I placed a trap there immediately) and I found mouse poo behind the refrigerator (also another trap was placed there). But it isn't a lot of mouse poo, so I don't think they have been there very long.

AND, about one week ago, after putting kids to bed, getting into PJ's (I had been upstairs almost one hour), I went downstairs to find the laundry room door was WIDE open. So that is my first thought as to how the mice got in.

HOWEVER: In August my refrigerator broke and repair men had to change out the fridge, and the copper tubing that goes into the wall had to be messed with. Today as I cleaned behind the fridge, I saw that the recess where the tubing goes into the wall isn't sealed anymore and you can see into the space between the walls. If I were a mouse, I'd take my family in there.

That is where Jerry always hid from Tom...

SO.... If the mice have been in here for a long time, they had to have been living in the wall, otherwise I would have seen their droppings and I would have fixed it! Now that I have 4 already caught (~shiver~) I am starting to question if that many mice would have ventured in during that hour the door was open.

I think I am going to have mouse nightmares. BLEAAAHH! I can't even stop myself from stealing glances at the peanut butter trap I set a little while ago. I have two sticky traps together, and a dollop of peanut butter in the center. And I hope there is no one left in the house to catch! And of course I am thinking about baby mice... and..... and yuck.

I seem to always have vermin to deal with when my husband is not here. Lice (eeewwwww), weevils (eeewww, but really easy to fix), and now mice. But these are huge vermin compared to little bugs.

I bleached my floor today.

Guess I have to do it again tomorrow. ~sigh~

-B.