I love life in the country! The night skies void of light pollution and a clear view (except on cloudy nights) of the stars. The quiet calmness. The space for kids to run, yell and laugh with no one to complain of the "noise." The extra space to "stretch out" without the feeling of cramping the neighbors. The benefits are NUMEROUS!
But there are also the drawbacks.
Rodents. Rodents! Rodents!!
I've posted about these little bothers before, but I thought our days of the invaders were done.
We now have a fabulous mousing cat. He adopted us about a year ago and he is a master at his craft. He's such a great mouser we should buy stock in worm pills. Each time he catches (and eats) a mouse he's probably exposed and injesting a tapeworm. I must say, being the germ-phobe-cleanie that I am, I'm completely disgusted when I find a remnant of the tapeworm on a chair. Ugh! Just thinking about it makes me feel like cleaning!
Back to Master Luke, the Jedi Mouser. He's so awesome, I think he can catch even the most cunning from the darkside. But I guess I was wrong. Or maybe he takes care of the out-of-doors and is "off duty" inside. Whatever the case, we have a mysterious prowler who makes his way up into some built-in cabinetry under our stairs. It's in these cabinets I store candles, childhood paperwork and linens.
I got a candle out about 2 days ago and there was no sign. Today I opened the drawer and, Oh My Word! It was littered with mouse evidence! Yuck!
Years ago I read a book called The Coming Plague and it was at that time that I learned about Hantavirus. Now everytime I see rodent droppings, I'm reminded of this potentially fatal virus. My first response is a desire to suit our kids up in Hazmat clothing and disinfect the surroundings. I may be going overboard a bit, but my distaste for the pests is apparent.
So, needless to say, I've cleaned out, vacuumed out and set traps for that/those little buggers. Let's hope we catch it (them) soon, before sweet husband has to go back to work.
Wish us success!
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