Living in Texas means dealing with bugs and rodents.
During a lull in Monday's deluge, I walked to the back gate to see how full the drainage canal was. On my way back to the house, I noticed a mouse (let's agree to call it a mouse and not a rat, OK?) running along the side of the house toward the back door I'd left open.
I redirected it with a combination of whooping and hollering. It retreated to the corner of the house and crawled into a tiny space between the concrete and wood panel wall. Its downfall: an exposed tail.
I'm not a fan of rodents, much less cohabiting ones. (Hey, I have enough to get used to living with a husband). I didn't want it to get away (the mouse, not the husband), so I pinned its tail under a brick and ran in the house to get some tongs.
Stuart got vocal when I pulled on his tail and wedged himself in further. I tipped a saucer of rainwater into his hiding place and he loosened his hold enough for me to extract him. Great. Now what do I do?
I didn't have the stomach for drowning him, so I marched him to the back gate and flung him toward the drainage canal. He landed on the bank. I'm hoping that he was sufficiently disoriented to not find his way back.
And those tongs--strictly for outdoor, non-food use from now on.
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7 comments:
Hmm, maybe glue traps are not for you, then ;)
Hmm, maybe glue traps are not for you, then ;)
We bought glue traps, but can't use them in the rain. Mike would be the designated disposer of anything the glue trap caught.
Speaking from (sadly, quite extensive) experience, snap traps with crunchy peanut butter work best (creamy they'll just lick off, crafty buggers). Unlike the glue traps, they kill instantly, and they're cheap enough that you don't have to worry about trying to reuse them. Just use a plastic bag to pick up the whole mess and toss in the trash.
I've still got some kind of rodent tunneling under my front steps (apparently the poison we put out last year didn't do the trick), and the raccoons have been leaving me little poo presents around the yard lately. Grr. But at least the deer have done minimal munching this year.
Duly noted on the crunchy peanut butter. If we buy regular traps, I can get rid of the unsalted crunchy PB I bought by mistake.
Oh, and I think we have moles. Have no other explanation for the dirt piles that dot the backyard grass.
Ah, moles! Yes, I know about them, too. There's this really great stuff called Mole Away or something like that. It's nontoxic--won't kill them but will encourage them to go to someone else's yard. It's castor oil, I think, and I've heard it makes their hearts race so they feel uncomfortable.
pardon my french, but what the fuck does that lazy cat of yours do all day? order take out?
ok. so that wasn't french. it was wendese.
miss you, ME.
xoxox
wendy
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