Yesterday was a day like any other. Except that I was traumatized beyond repair.
Let me preface this by saying that I LOVE our new little cottage. I mentioned a week or two ago that The Husband and I were moving, and move we did. We now live in a lovely little cottage, aka a pool house on a very nice man's large property. It's wonderful. Anyway, on my lunch break yesterday, I merrily decided to bake some cookies. Nothing says Holiday Season like some freshly baked cookies, right? So I went over to the cabinet where my baking ingredients are stored, one of those rotating corner shelve deals, and pulled out the sugar. My delight was soon diminished as I realized the bag was leaking and sugar was suddenly pouring out all. over. the. place.
After I cleaned up the mess, I scrutinized the bag and lo and behold, there was a small hole in one of the bottom corners. I taped it up, thinking it must have gotten banged up traveling from old home to new home. I went back to the baking cabinet and pulled out the flour, which proceeded to ALSO LEAK EVERYWHERE. At this point, I was aggravated. I mean, I only have an hour break and now half of it was taken up by cleaning this stupid cabinet. I realized then that there was sugar, flour, and other various baking ingredients all over the bottom of the shelf. I started pulling everything out, only to find out that EVERYTHING had holes in it.
And then I saw it. Little black things the size of grains of rice. Mouse droppings.
I quickly googled "mouse droppings" just to be sure. And yep, I was right. It was definitely mouse poop.
EWWWWW!!
I was so grossed out. Our last apartment had a bug problem, and now we have a mouse problem?! Anyway, I threw out all of my baking ingredients and thoroughly cleaned the entire cabinet. While half my body was inside the cabinet to reach the back, I noticed a gaping hole toward the back where a pipe came out. So THAT was where they were coming from, those sneaky vermin. I plugged the hole up with aluminum foil until a better plan was hatched, and immediately called The Husband to tell him the news. He emailed our landlord and apparently there will be an exterminator coming to our rescue. Thank goodness, because I wouldn't be too thrilled if I had to set mouse traps.
So, that was my exciting and traumatizing day. I really, really love our new place, especially the kitchen because it's so pretty and updated. But I have to say, I'm a little leery of going in there now. Especially near the baking cabinet. *shudder* I suppose I'll have to buy all new baking ingredients and keep them in airtight containers or something until the exterminator comes, because CHRISTMAS BAKING WILL HAPPEN! Don't worry those of you who will consume my cookies, I PROMISE to only use brand new ingredients, and to keep everything nice and poop-free. :)
oh, those field mice!! the joys of living in more wooded areas. We too get them in our house.. when we first moved in and realized we had mice, I FREAKED OUT!
ReplyDeleteOur house is really, really old, so there are plenty of ways in. Over time, we tried to seal as many holes as possible in the foundation, though they still find their way in. I try to keep the house as crumb free as possible, which is nearly impossible with little ones..
and we set traps. The one under our kitchen sink is where we catch the little bastards, they seem to love that spot, so we catch them pretty quickly.
Also, we find that they come in when the weather changes, both from cold to hot and hot to cold, it' usually a couple of weeks of catching them .. and then we go a few months without any issues. Until the weather takes a turn again. I guess they are looking for shelter, I only wish they'd find it next door, LOL
sigh! Hope an exterminator can rid of your problem completely. With our super old house, they seem to always find a way in.
I have a pretty similar situation to what Cristina mentioned. I hate trapping them, but our cats either can't or won't keep up with them when we have them. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteI have to say, it makes me feel better that I'm not the only one with this problem! Ugh, I hope we don't have to resort to traps. I'll definitely be more careful with keeping the counters crumb-free though. I'll let you know how I make out.
ReplyDeleteI love your nothing-will-stop-the-Christmas-baking! attitude. :) Mice are the worst. Especially because they are so darn cute. But they're a pain to get rid of completely. I'm glad you've got an exterminator on your side!
ReplyDelete*nods knowingly* We had mice for, like, YEARS when we lived in Philly. So disgusting and very hard to keep away from your food. We met with some success with plugging holes with steel wool.....but really we could never get them to go away. Get some good (chew proof!) sealable containers for peace of mind. Don't let them stop you baking in your sweet cottage.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the move! Beautiful blog - glad to be following.
@Leigh Ann Years?? No, that is not what I want to hear! Haha. I just tried the steel wool thing the other day--it's helped a lot, but not completely. Grrrr.
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