Houseflies and Mice
Living in the country has challenges. I have accepted them and tell stories so you won’t need to move to the mountains and experience them yourself. This summer has been extremely bad. I blame beervirus, our dogs and Elaine.
Before I tell you why I blame beervirus, our dogs and Elaine, let me tell you what about the summer has been extremely bad. Houseflies and mice. Living in the country, one must expect an occasional mouse and your share of houseflies. It goes with living in the country. This year, because of these reasons mentioned we have broken all records.
Since March when the governor closed all “non-essential” businesses in an effort to contain beervirus, Elaine has worked at home. Being able to work at home, she has been to her office only once since March.
That is the beervirus part of the blame. Elaine now works at home.
Our dogs, even though are quite large, are house dogs. Again, Elaine doesn’t believe dogs should sleep outside. Prior to beervirus (and Elaine working from home), the dogs stayed inside the house while the family went to work, school, etc. On days when one or more of our family is home, the dogs scratch at the door to be let in or out hundreds of times a day.
Please, don’t tell me we need a doggie door. With the size of our dogs it could turn into a black bear or mountain lion door in an instant. Our family made the decision to either get up to let the dogs in or out or simply tell them to lay down. Our system worked well until beervirus.
After a couple days of working from home, Elaine realized she could not be productive letting the dogs in and out a couple hundred times a day. Elaine went to the internet for a solution. Elaine found a door-sized net with magnets closure that your dogs walk through and the magnets close the net automatically. Elaine purchased the net from the Nile (or whatever that online company is called) and installed it herself.
With our door wide open, closed only by Elaine’s net, I have trapped 35 mice this summer.
Don’t start with that cat stuff. This may hurt some of you but I would rather have mice than a cat. Mice don’t make me sneeze and rub against my legs with all that cat fur.
Somehow, it became my job to remove mice from the traps. All these country kids, and not one of them would touch a mouse trap. Happily, Elaine started dealing with the traps, although she hates to bait them.
It would be really great if the magnets closed the net consistently. The slightest breeze will blow the net open, seeming inviting every housefly in the county into our house. We have strategically placed fly swatters around the house.
As you can see, beervirus, our dogs and Elaine are to blame for my problem. In a normal summer I might have two maybe three mice to deal with. My resentment of the net was growing.
AND THEN, two neighbors (different houses) casually mentioned they have extreme mouse problems this year. I didn’t ask if they had purchased a net like Elaine’s
I love Elaine, but I still think the net is silly.
For those of you that are wondering (worried) the fires are not close to our home. They are however, headed towards us. We pray that they are contained before they get to us. It is extremely smoky here. Again, we are not in any danger here, but who knows.
I worry that the mice and housefly displaced by the fires have heard about Elaine’s net.
Buy yarn! Pray for the firefighters! God Bless!
Our crazy lives!
Monner
Living in the country has challenges. I have accepted them and tell stories so you won’t need to move to the mountains and experience them yourself. This summer has been extremely bad. I blame beervirus, our dogs and Elaine.Before I tell you why I blame beervirus, our dogs and Elaine, let me tell you what about the summer has been extremely bad. Houseflies and mice. Living in the country, one must expect an occasional mouse and your share of houseflies. It goes with living in the country. This year, because of these reasons mentioned we have broken all records.Since March when the governor closed all “non-essential” businesses in an effort to contain beervirus, Elaine has worked at home. Being able to work at home, she has been to her office only once since March.That is the beervirus part of the blame. Elaine now works at home.Our dogs, even though are quite large, are house dogs. Again, Elaine doesn’t believe dogs should sleep outside. Prior to beervirus (and Elaine working from home), the dogs stayed inside the house while the family went to work, school, etc. On days when one or more of our family is home, the dogs scratch at the door to be let in or out hundreds of times a day. Please, don’t tell me we need a doggie door. With the size of our dogs it could turn into a black bear or mountain lion door in an instant. Our family made the decision to either get up to let the dogs in or out or simply tell them to lay down. Our system worked well until beervirus.After a couple days of working from home, Elaine realized she could not be productive letting the dogs in and out a couple hundred times a day. Elaine went to the internet for a solution. Elaine found a door-sized net with magnets closure that your dogs walk through and the magnets close the net automatically. Elaine purchased the net from the Nile (or whatever that online company is called) and installed it herself.With our door wide open, closed only by Elaine’s net, I have trapped 35 mice this summer. Don’t start with that cat stuff. This may hurt some of you but I would rather have mice than a cat. Mice don’t make me sneeze and rub against my legs with all that cat fur.Somehow, it became my job to remove mice from the traps. All these country kids, and not one of them would touch a mouse trap. Happily, Elaine started dealing with the traps, although she hates to bait them. It would be really great if the magnets closed the net consistently. The slightest breeze will blow the net open, seeming inviting every housefly in the county into our house. We have strategically placed fly swatters around the house.As you can see, beervirus, our dogs and Elaine are to blame for my problem. In a normal summer I might have two maybe three mice to deal with. My resentment of the net was growing.AND THEN, two neighbors (different houses) casually mentioned they have extreme mouse problems this year. I didn’t ask if they had purchased a net like Elaine’sI love Elaine, but I still think the net is silly.For those of you that are wondering (worried) the fires are not close to our home. They are however, headed towards us. We pray that they are contained before they get to us. It is extremely smoky here. Again, we are not in any danger here, but who knows.I worry that the mice and housefly displaced by the fires have heard about Elaine’s net. Buy yarn! Pray for the firefighters! God Bless!Our crazy lives!Monner