Because I always burn the bottoms of pans when making any kind of milk-based sauce, I chose to ignore it, and instead continued to put 100 per cent concentration into my stirring. The sight of a mouse in my kitchen would normally make me feel physically sick, and I would do the whole standing-on-a-chair thing, screaming blue murder (despite growing up with mice in my Mum's house).
Looking back, I think it must have been a subconscious coping mechanism that kicked in: no one was going to ruin this labour intensive meal, not even a rodent.
The next day, despite finding droppings and gnawings everywhere, I was still in total denial and I didn't think about the mouse again. But that night Tom woke me up at midnight. He looked shaken, and told me that he had walked into the kitchen and spotted a mouse poking his head out of a cereal packet. 'WHICH CEREAL PACKET?' I asked, totally panic stricken. I was inwardly relieved that it had been the kids' Cheerios and not my muesli. Tom told me that he had heroically grabbed the box with the mouse still inside, and given it a good shake. What he was trying to achieve with the shake I don't know, but he said the sound of a mouse thudding around amongst Cheerios was an odd sensation. He went out into the night and bravely threw the box and its dizzy inhabitant out into the garden.
By Monday I was feeling pretty traumatised, particularly since, on Sunday night, the mice had chewed through our wooden cutlery draw and placed all the wooden shavings amongst my forks and spoons, along with their shit. And on Monday afternoon, Tom had yet another unnerving encounter with a mouse who was hanging out next to our microwave, staring at him.
I am now refusing to cook in my kitchen. I have thrown a lot of our food away. And I will only eat items from the fridge. Each time I nervously enter the kitchen, I mentally prepare myself, make sure I'm not holding anything breakable, and I shout loudly and clap to give them a chance to at least run away and hide so that I don't have to see them strolling around on my kitchen surfaces.
Much to Tom's delight, I have had to throw Baby Annabel into the bin. Her neck had been gnawed. I assume it was a mouse anyway.
I have even become terrified about them getting into bed with me while I am asleep. 'Well you mustn't eat chocolate in bed and leave crumbs everywhere then,' Betty helpfully informed me.
Pest control are coming on Tuesday.
10 comments:
Oh no. It's such a distraction when you have mice running everywhere. I had to resort to Tupperware containers for the cereal (and ants) and when we finally got rid of them I had to take everything off the shelves in my pantry and bleach the surfaces. They say the pee is very toxic, and mice have no bladder control so they pee all the time. Ugh. Good luck!
Oh this brings back memories of last winter. We had only just started living in the house during the day but were still sleeping in the caravan overnight. As soon as winter began we almost became over run with rats in the house. It was with relief that I retreated back to the caravan at night. No way could I have slept a wink knowing that a rat might wander over me at night! We had to resort to poison in the end. Rat traps did not work at all. Hope your dilemma is sorted out soon.
Are they field mice or house mice? Field mice don't bother me as much for some reason. But if they get into your food, it's no good at all. I hope the exterminator manages to get rid of all of them and that you will have no more unpleasant encounters. I do feel for you.
how dreadful - remember when we had them -pesky things that pooh everywhere and chew threw anything and everything! We had pest control company round for 2 visits and not heard a squeak since!
Brrrrrr. I know how you feel, we have mice regularly. They go eventually if you can put up with them!
I've added this post to my Blog Posts of the Week page on my blog.
CJ x
Ugh, I feel your pain. We had a mouse infestation in our house about which the pest control guy said: "I've never seen an infestation on this scale in a domestic setting." :-)
Husband refused to use poison, preferring instead to empty trap after trap of mangled mouse. Husband also travelled a lot and it was when I was woken up at 4am by deafening chewing (the bastard mouse was under the bed) that I called in the Ghostbusters. Actually I first called husband - who was in Turkey, asleep - and screeched down the phone that there was an effing mouse under my bed and what the bloody hell am I supposed to do?.
And when I was pregnant with child 3 (or maybe 4) I used to dream that there was a mouse writhing around in my stomach.
I hate mice.
Oh, you've set me off now.
Anyway, good luck with the de-mousing. Pest control man told me that most nests are in the roof, did you know they can crawl up walls and squeeze to the thickness of a pencil? They are tools of the devil.
Crush them, kill them I say!
And now I just sound like a mentaloid who has hijacked your blog :-) About to recommend you to a PR person, hope that's ok.
Ciao ciao
Pig x
Sorry I can't stand mice! Eeeeek
Jody here, nice to meet you. I came through Expat Mum. I am absolutely terrified of mice, I lost 8Lbs when they came to our house a year ago because i felt so sickened by them...We called it the Skinny Minnie Mouse Diet
Oh yeah, I had the same experience too! I caught a mouse feeding on my favorite cookies and I was very disheartened. We set up a trap which turned out to be an epic fail. Our last resort was to call for a professional service and let them hunt the mice for us. It’s been months, I hope your house is now mouse free!
Selena Slough
Reading how terrible the situation was, I was hoping to find something about pest control after every sentence. And I was greatly relived once I read it at the end of this blog entry. Pest control services are really handy, since professionals can make sure your home will be from any pest that might annoy or harm you.
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