Day 98: Snakes and Mice

It's time to start pooring more creativity into my blog. I want to document a couple crafts that I have done around my house that are both cute and functional. I think I'll start tomorrow. I know, I'm a total slacker on my blog lately, but hey, it's for me, so what does it matter anyway?

So, about that title? Yeah, I woke up early this morning to go for a good old run. Just under 4 miles to be exact, I've got a training schedule to stick to. I got back home by 7:30, and the only person in the house awake, other than Shawn, was my little Alivia. Serious, this girl has got to start sleeping past 6, I think I'm going to kick Jack out of his room for a few months until she get's her life in order because I just can't live like this.

As the chaotic hurry of Shawn rushed out the door with him this morning, I sat with my little girl in her Bumbo chair on my table and just enjoyed her company for a minute. That is when I heard a dreaded sound. Since we purchased our house, we've had the same problem each fall. The temperature drops, and the rodents somehow get in. This was a problem we fixed this fall (which for the record was only our second fall in the house, the first fall we bought the house, so we moved pretty quickly), I plugged a hole and we bought several traps and a electric rodent repellent thingy and we didn't see another mouse all winter. And then I heard it this morning. I heard so much noise behind our stove that I was certain if I just looked under the oven I would see a small clan of rodents enjoying a banquet. Not the case, I didn't see anything. I pulled the drawer out from under the stove and still, nothing. I was surprised to see that it wasn't even messy under there except for a little dust and a couple pieces of dried spaghetti from the spill of February. But I sat and waited, and sure enough, a mouse flew up the back of the stove a minute later. But I think my rodent repellent thingy still works because this guy was acting weird. It didn't even bother him that I was hitting the stove or pulling out the drawer, I could still hear him working on what ever he was working on, like I wasn't there.

On to later that morning. The kids and I headed out to water the lawn. Jack played in the dirt as is natural for a little boy. I walked around the side the house looking for any possible hole or gap that a mouse could have gotten through. I've done this several times since we bought the house. The only hole I found I filled with steel wool and felt good about it. I noticed today that over the winter a lot of soil has been carried away from this area and I'm sure more of that hole is exposed now. As I rounded the corner I was startled by a garden snake. I brought the kids over to show them the snake and educated them on what to do if they ever come across a snake. Then Lucy sprayed the thing with a squirt bottle and it took off for the hole under the patio that the erosion of the winter created, right where I suspect the mice are getting in at. I thought to myself, "Wow, I need to find a way to keep him there. He'll be happy with a good source of food, and I won't ever have to get a cat." Then I decided this snake sucks because he didn't catch the mouse in the first place. Stupid wild life, they're all lazy around here. I ran right by a rabbit and 4 deer this morning and none of them cared I was there.

Now I'm lazy, I'll get crafty tomorrow. My baby doesn't sleep, so I use this as an excuse for all the areas of my life that are lacking.