Squeak!

Evil cat is out of sorts and creaky.

So I was not thrilled after there being lots of building work in the house behind when I thought I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. It could be a trick of the light, hallucination, etc. But I think it is a mouse.

We had mice at the start of the year when the scallies tried to steal the pipes at the back. Now we have building work. And it is cold out. And our cat is creaky.

OH can set the traps again tonight.

Well done me!

Today I picked up a mousetrap full of mouse and put the mouse in the bin. The mousetrap is a fancy burleigh & stronginthearm design, designed that you pick up the contraption, with the mouse's tail sticking out straight behind it, and then you go to the wheelie bin, and then you just press and the mouse drops out.

And then you hurry inside and just re-set.

I didn't think I would be able to do that.

Mighty hunter

Dear heart was outraged to once again see a mouse, bold as you like, nibbling at the peanut butter on the mouse trap.

So he hit the mouse trap with a hammer. He was very effective.

This is the first known casualty of the mouse war (not sure about what evil cat has managed) but I am hopeful that it will not be the last.

Part of me is desperately guilty - if you could see how sweet and tiny they looked as they sit next to the fire pulling faces at evil cat through the fireguard, it seems so cruel to be trying to get rid of the uninvited vermin who potentially have brought in so much disease and have no doubt been widdling on my wiring. But I am managing to stay bloodthirsty.

Just a little taste

Dear heart is outraged.

The traps were set with peanut butter as an enticement. To dear heart's appalled frustration he spotted a mouse happily nibbling the peanut butter without setting off the trap. This is not on!

Through the bars

I wish I could have a picture of the absolute baffled frustration that evil cat displayed, her nose pressed hard against the fire guard at the mouse peeking from behind the mouse trap.

Evil cat is under the computer desk.

A mouse has just run behind the monitor.

If there is a delay in posting further evil cat has happened

A mouse has just run from under the computer keyboard.

Evil cat is absent. I am not happy.

Little bear is helping by pressing the 'test' button on the mouse scarer. It sounds like martians are about to land.

I am quite ruthless about mice (in theory) and I am not happy about uninvited guests

Ye of little faith

I owe evil cat an apology. When I came downstairs this morning with little bear she was playing with a mouse. It wasn't dead. I thought for a moment, then ignored the whole scene to go downstairs to make toast, thinking all the time how impressive it was that evil cat actually caught a mouse.

When I came back up she had lost it. Later I shall have to check behind and under things to see if there are remains.

I didn't think she could catch a mouse, and I was wrong. However I was not surprised that she lost it. Hunting for mice is instinctive and evil cat has a malicious and evil streak. Killing a mouse is a learned skill and I don't think evil cat was ever shown. She may manage to become self taught, with opportunity.

Deaf mouse

As aforementioned, we have one of those mouse deterrents thingies plugged into a socket less than five feet away from the computer desk.

Which made it even more irritating that a mouse climbed onto the computer desk while dear heart was there - to eat some of the seeds that came with the bird feeder.

Evil cat was elsewhere.

Mouse strikes again

A mouse ran over dear heart's foot last night. He did not approve. So the mouse thingy was plugged in downstairs.

I am not entirely sure how effective it is. Dear heart slept on the sofa last night as he often finds it easier to sleep there when he is poorly, especially as he can put the fire on and the bedrooms are a bit cold.

Well, his sleep was broken last night. Evil cat was actually hunting. Now it doesn't necessarily mean that there was a mouse to hunt, and it is certainly no guarantee of any success, but at 4am it is surprising how much noise a cat smaller than my handbag and considerably lighter can make and exactly how much force she puts into using a person as a launching pad!

I hope she is a deterrent, rather like a Trident that can't launch. The mouse doesn't know she is elderly, creaky and not entirely all there.

The mouse thingy is not currently plugged in. We have a heater on the landing in the evening, to warm up the rooms and help little bear sleep (it gets his room up to a tropical 15 C which would be fine if he could be persuaded to sleep UNDER the covers). The heater is using the mouse plug.

Besides, little bear has found that the mouse thingy makes an amazing shriek if you press the test button. I found evil cat in a state of complete trauma after forcibly dragging him away from the mouse thingy.

I need to identify another socket for the thingy.

Discretion is the better part of valour

I was sitting at the computer trying not to buy yarn when I heard some rustling behind me. I considered that it may be evil cat, then possibly mice. I ignored it. I believe that the mouse repeller is working with reasonable efficiency and I don't want to get involved with a demarcation dispute with evil cat.

Then I heard squeaking! How dare rodents come into my home and squeak! I got on my hands and knees, peered behind a chair and decided they were either in or behind a bookcase.

Then I realised something. Little bear was asleep (FINALLY!!!!). Dear heart had come home early poorly and was having a much needed sleep. If I did, by some outrageous stroke of luck manage to spot the invader my instinctive reaction would be - to scream! This would not be helpful. And even if I didn't scream I could not imagine me doing anything constructive - hit the poor creature with a hammer? Grab it? Corner it for evil cat to deal with?

I have come back to the computer and I am considering more yarn.