Grrrrrr……

There are many charming things about 220 year old houses, the prevalence of mice is not among them (also low on the charm scale: bedrooms full of wasps…flying ants….lack of closets….architecture that I can only assume was intended to induce concussions…musty basements…risk of lead paint…but I digress).  Seriously, the mice are entrenched at this point.  This is their homeland, where generation after generation has been raised for time out of mind.  They’re not backing down.  They know every hiding place and every nook and cranny.  And believe me, in a house of this age, there are many nooks and crannies (quaint words for holes and dents).

All the same, my people and the mouse community have lived in relative peace and harmony.  I am so not the jumping up on a chair and shrieking type.  I live in the country, you know?  Mice happen.  Same with skunks, deer, the occasional bear… live and let live.  Stay out of my way and I’ll stay out of yours.  Granted, it you decide to camp out in my underwear drawer, I might set a catch and release trap or two.  But seeing as I’m usually too lazy to take the trap the recommended 2.5 miles away, generally settling instead for a feeble walk to the edge of the back yard, you can pretty much come back at your leisure, after a refreshing vacation out in the dewy grass and crisp country air.  All expenses paid, and you get a snack of peanut butter to boot.

Being somewhat nocturnal myself, the mice and I get a lot of quality time together after everyone else is in bed.  I greet them cordially when they are out and about and occasionally wonder at the domestic disturbances of the backroom cupboard when the squeaking gets out of hand.  Tasha Tudor used to keep a pair of dormice to sketch.  I haven’t yet taken to rodent portraiture myself, but it’s nice to know they are there, should I ever feel the inclination.

The mice are none to happy with us at the moment.  All of this shuffling things about is disrupting their regular rhythm, selfish people that we are.  And after yesterday’s excursion into the eaves, I can’t say I’m too pleased with them either.

I present to you both exhibits A and B…

holes

Also known as my two favorite scarves.  Or rather, what remains of my two favorite scarves.  The one on the left was one of my first ever knitting projects.  It was a Valentine’s Day gift for Steve, which I believe he wore all of once (was it even that many times?  I’m pretty sure he at least tried it on).  After several years of laying untouched in a closet, I claimed it for myself.  He’s tall, so I had made it long, long, long, like wrap it around myself 4 or 5 times long.  When I’m wearing one of the little ones on my back, I’ll wrap it around them, crisscross it in-between us, wrap it around me and then back again.  The ultimate in squishy warmth.

The one on the right was made by Mardi, namesake of the Mardi dress pattern.  I wore it all the time, whenever it wasn’t 4-5 layers of super thick scarf, cold.  It was my chilly-but-not-sub-zero-weather-look-at-me-I’m-wearing-my-pretty-lacy-scarf-that-makes-me-think-of-my-dear-friend-from-far-away scarf.  Harrumph.

We are talking about my wool here people.  So.  not.  cool.  I consider this a total breech of trust between myself and the mouse community.

By

8 thoughts on “Grrrrrr……

  1. Steve

    I wore it at least twice! And it’s not my fault that New England doesn’t get cold enough to warrant wearing a scarf. :)

  2. Julia

    My sympathies! Tis almost the time of year to venture into my woolens and see what the mice and moths have taken for their own. I don’t know which is worse–the mice eat big holes, but the moths deceive me into thinking I can save the item w/ clever darning; then it molders away in the mending pile…till the mice find it. Bah!
    love,
    Hobbit

  3. Melody Post author

    I am of course familiar with Hantavirus, though I honestly don’t know if it’s prevalent out here. I can’t imagine that it is though. All of the old houses out here have mice and nearly all the houses out here are old. Everyone has mice. Those with cats have less mice, or mice that hide further back in the walls. And I’ve never so much as heard of anyone getting ill. Honestly, the possibility of lead and mold concerns me far more.

    They are mostly in the walls and eaves and out of the way places. We are careful to clean up any traces of them in our actual living space. Now that we are preparing to move, we’re stirring things up a bit and seeing more of them. I have high hopes that our new house might not have any at all! It’s newer and very well built. The house that we are living in now has been the worse by far with this and at this point, since we are leaving, we’ve all but given up. I’m ready to move!

  4. Melanie

    I am torn between laughing at your descriptions (I love your writing) and feeling sad for you!
    We once had mice camp out in a drawer of baby clothing, waiting to go onto my son (next size up). You know, things my daughter had worn and I kinda treasured. . .
    We also have mice, and an old house. And two cats. Lately they’ve been coming in (the fields around our house have been hayed) and we’ve had several mornings where our dear cats left us a present: a partially eaten mouse. One time it had no tail. My son found a lone tail later that morning, right where he was setting up a truck game. Ew!

  5. Heather

    Catch and release – seriously???? You really must get some of the proper squish-em kind of traps ;) You might want to have a few on hand in case a few of them catch a ride to your new place ;) We have vast quantities of mice too, and if we didn’t actively kill the mice we’d be seriously overrun – and we have 2 cats lol! The year we drove across Canada, the mice got a little gutsy since they had the run of the place lol, and one got itself into my grain mill – stuck – and then chewed it’s way out. Definitely an interesting conversation explaining to the company why I needed new parts lol!

  6. mamaraby

    Hmmm…I have to admit, if confronted I’m probably a stand on a chair and scream type. Bugs do it to me too…even though I don’t consider myself the hysterical type. I draw the line at mice, though. No catch and release traps and I’d gladly let the cats at ‘em. With kids and I definitely draw the line at mice!

  7. Suzanne

    Well, my house is the same age and we have mice too! Tasha Tudor used to say ” the effrontery of it all with a cat in the house”! We have two barn cats George and Gracie that take care there , but I think we may need another cat! Speaking of Tasha Tudor there is a great giveaway, visit my blog and the link is there under the Tasha Tudor Day post:-)

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