Actual dinner story

[davidn]

I'm glad that people appreciated my non-story of what dinner was like last night - I had been planning to set up a post like that for some time, ever since I was sitting on the sofa with my awful dinner and shortened finger two weeks ago and thinking about how days alone would be better planned so that they were survivable. Unfortunately, it was a lie - or at least it didn't tell the whole truth, and the answer to ravenworks' question of whether I ever have normal dinners is probably a resounding "no".

You see, there is a moose, and furthermore, it seems to be loose aboot this hoose. I first noticed it when I saw a dark cloud zoom across the kitchen floor and back out of the corner of my eye when I was working at the dining table. At first I thought it might be an earwig because we'd had a couple of those when we first moved in, but it was far too big and too fast unless it was the King of the Land of Earwigs himself. I decided that it was probably my imagination.

Then I looked again when messaging lupineangel, and there it was - a small dark brown thing, not nearly as nice-looking as you might have been led to believe, staring back at me from the wooden floor. As we made eye contact it took off again under a cupboard, leaving me to incoherently type "MOUSE" for a few lines before calming down and trying to decide what to do about it.

He suggested peanut butter in a very Elmer Fudd style trap of a shoebox, pencil and bit of string, but we don't have any of that, and I decided it probably wasn't worth it to spend my evening that way - besides, those cartoons always involved him shooting himself in the face with a hunting rifle, and that's even worse than anything I've done to myself in the kitchen. I couldn't find it by shining a torch under the counters, and when the pizza arrived, I resolved to just forget about it and plan another day (though I have a big tub ready to throw over it if I get the chance).

So we'll have to try mousetraps or something (this also solves a mystery that we had earlier on when a bait station we hadn't bought suddenly appeared in the middle of the kitchen floor one day - it must have been kicked out from under a cupboard by him.) And Whitney's been wanting a cat for ages - perhaps this is a reason to finally get one, so that he can try to catch it while we're out with some sort of elaborate arrangement involving the ironing board, a cheese grater, and an anvil suspended from the ceiling.

Comments

[diarytypething.livejournal.com]

I've found that mint essence/flavouring is a good mouse-repellent - apparently the smell discourages them - although the best thing to do is block up all of the possible entry routes. If there are any little gaps they're using to get in, fill them up with steel wool or bits of metal pan scourers (they're essentially the same thing, but often easier to find), and really jam the stuff in with the end of a pencil or similar until no more will fit, as this is one of the few things they can't burrow through or around.

[davidn]

That sounds like a good set of ideas... I know we've got those scourers around. It's a mystery to me how it got in unless it was through the basement, though, because I looked for entry points for earwigs much earlier on and couldn't find any more - a mouse would surely be more obvious!

[ravenworks.livejournal.com]

Is finding a torn-open mouse corpse really less upsetting than finding a mouse? (Or is the idea for the mouse to escape, and then decide to find a new place to live?)

Also: Meeces are adorable! (Breasts or no. :D) Though I can certainly relate to being terrified by the unpredictability of the situation. (Was your first instinct really to type rather than to shout, though? I love that. XD)

[davidn]

When you put it like that... I don't know, there's something worse about seeing things crawling around. For example, I'm much less scared of flying insects than... ambulatory ones, even though you'd think the latter could come to get you more easily...

And yes, I typed instead of shouting! There was no one to hear me scream... when put like that it seems coldly logical, but I didn't think about that at the time, and Whitney has mentioned that I shriek like a girl whenever I see insects when she's around.

[pami-zee.livejournal.com]

We had a mouse in Rose Lane. Katie went out to buy mousetraps for it and against my wishes bought two killing traps and only one live capture trap. And guess who was home alone cooking when there was a horrible snap from behind her? Me. It was awful. Not bloody, but not nice to watch the poor thing struggle for a bit :(

Anyway peanut butter does work as an attractive treat. I would suggest not using a cat, because it would probably just maim it and leave it to crawl off somewhere dark and hidden and suddenly you have a rotting mouse in your house. Which is worse than a living one.

[davidn]

I should get one that does this! Quick and effective.