This is what my battle with the mice has turned into: the contents of my knife drawer and my silverware drawer are on the dining room table. Also, any pots and pans that normally hang out on the stove are here too. I’ve emptied out the space underneath the sink, as well as the drawers the mice seem drawn to. Everything has been cleaned and disinfected, and the traps are baited and set. If I can convince them — through encouragement (in the form of the all natural spearmint packets the hardware store sells that convince mice to move on) and with a little bit of violence (there are rules, as K would say) — to relocate (again, physically, and in some cases, also spiritually) before it gets too cold, I’ll be able to reinhabit my kitchen and enjoy the rest of fall. If I can’t, well…I don’t want to think about that.
Instead, I’ll knit on another project started long ago: Snowbird. I had gotten as far as the collar and the raglan increases, and then the pattern has you start the sleeves before working the body. I was about 20 rows into one of the sleeves. I worked on this for about an hour last night, and I remembered why this was sort of slow going: reverse stockinette. I think I need to focus on relaxing my hands while purling. Or something. Good thing I love the idea of this sweater.
All right. Back to Monday, which for me, means writing midterm comments for my students.
barefoot rooster 
Did you get some steel wool? Shoving that into every nook and cranny around/between our cabinets kept them out of them for us. We pulled out the stove on Saturday and shoved steel wool into the holes back there (so much mouse poo. Gross. It was a party back there.), and I’m hopeful that’ll prevent it. They can’t eat the steel wool, so it really does work!
I second Mick on the steel wool idea. And I certainly hope that you see results quickly! (On the sweater, too!!)
Rent a cat.
Nasty little rodents. And they are so cute when behind glass in the pet store but so nasty when they decide to take up housekeeping in YOUR house.
I just looked at the snowbird pattern and that is really a great looking sweater. Will be excited to see it when it is all done.
The trouble with getting a cat is that they bring you a nice fat mouse every morning for breakfast. I set out some ‘no kill’ traps & baited it with peanut butter. Then we repaired all the hole that they were using to get in the house. We bought some door draft protectors & put them under the doors that go outside, & that made a huge difference. I still put the traps out behind the stove etc.. but haven’t had a mouse in ages.
Umm…I suggest that if you can manage to get a black snake to move into your basement. That will take care of the issue. We get them on the back porch or used to until Blackie moved in (6ft black snake) & now we have none anywhere. Yes, I know it is a snake, but they are not poisonous & he will leave you alone. Weird solution, but it works.
I really like the snake idea, but I have to say that my black cat is the only solution that has worked for us. Traps have never been very effective for us, although I must also say that the steel wool idea is new to me and sounds like it’s worth a shot! Our cat, by the way, does not bring his kills to us. He simply eats them and stashes his prizes (the tails) under the back deck stairs. Basically, he has a “trophy room.” This was only gross when our goose (RIP Lady Jane Grey) found the stash of tails and tried to make a nest with them, into which she rolled a mason jar for hatching. She was a silly goose. Whoa, digressing. Anyway, steel wool sounds promising…I’ll look forward to a report! And yeah…I don’t mind them so much in the walls, but on my dishes? SUPER GROSS.
Oh,if they are field mice full grown & you do decide on traps, you will need a rat trap (bigger & louder) to catch the big ones. Here is a nightmare for you. Before the snake moved onto the back porch, we caught 17 field mice in two hours. As soon as the trap was set & the back porch light was turned off, the trap caught one. That is a nightmare for you. The next spring, Blackie (black snake) moved onto the back porch & no more mice problems for us.