Of Mice and Meandering

As I mentioned in the last post, I detest mice in the trailer, shed or cabin. To that end, I scattered mothballs in the shed and have seen the amount of mouse activity decline.

And Monday, I set five traps in the trailer. Tuesday I found two trapped mice and one sprung but empty trap. Wednesday I found two more trapped mice and two sprung but empty traps. My quest for a mouse free trailer continues!

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In preparation of our meander into New England and the Maritime Provinces, I made the final calls to several campgrounds today to make reservations for our trip that starts Friday. Had to change my planned destination for the Bay of Fundy are when I found out the campground is now a drive-in movie theater. All the other stops have been successfully booked so we're good to go.

I've printed out directions to each campground and Terry got a bunch of Nova Scotia booklets, maps and brochures from a friend of hers who just returned from there. All we need to do is pack the trailer, check and correct the trailer tire pressure, and hitch her up to the Tundra on Thursday evening.

Oh, and our cat/house sitter has confirmed her acceptance of responsibilities for the duration.

We're really looking forward to this little trip. We've not been to Nova Scotia since the big blackout hit NYC in 1977. (We had also honeymooned in the vicinity of Acadia National Park back in 1972.)

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I cut the grass this afternoon using the mower that AJ's cleaned the mouse nest out of. It ran perfectly. And ran out of gas just as I finished the last little bit of "lawn."

I Hates Meeses to Pieces! (Mostly)

Oh, mice are okay--in their place. Which, for me, is outdoors in the woods and fields. They do NOT belong indoors! Whether it's in the house (never here at the Aerie, but a regular occurance when we owned the Bolt Hole), in the shed, or in the trailer.

If it wasn't for the White-footed Deer Mouse I wouldn't have earned my Master's Degree. (Trying to find out if the little guys traveled across the interstate highways of NJ I spent two years trapping, marking and retrapping mice on I-287 and I-78. There were plenty of mice on the median and in the adjacent "mainland" woods, but I only caught one brave enough to cross three lanes--includes the shoulder--of wide open spaces. Doesn't mean they don't cross the road, I would have to do a lot more live trapping to make a definitive finding.)

Up north, I would set four traps in likely places throughout the Bolt Hole and capture--read"kill"--three to six mice a night for the first week I was there after a long absence. Then things might quiet down and I'd only get 1 or 2 every other night.

I had some problems starting my lawn mower the day before I was to go to Quebec. I cleaned the airfilter of some debris but the darn thing would run for a second or two and then die. Being in a hurry toget the grass cut, I took it down to AJ's Outdoor Power to get it repaired and then went to Lowe's to purchase another push mower so I could get the job done.

I got a call from AJ's upon my return to learn that they had removed a mouse nest and the mower was running fine. Cost me the price of a new mower (about $200) and repairs (about $45) but I've now got two mowers that work. And a shed sprinkled with moth balls. Hey! They're supposed to keep mice away, too.

Terry and I spent some time last Saturday cleaning up mouse droppings, pee and nesting material from various spots in the travel trailer. I used duct tape, aluminum screen and foam insulation to close all the gaps I could find. Today we found more droppings and, opening a cabinet we had overlooked, a missed nest along with two desicated mouse bodies--one in a plastic trash can that must have been too tall for the mouse to climb out of once it fell in.

I set some traps inside and one in each of the storage bays. Hopefully we'll have no hitchhikers when we hit the road on Friday.

Another Project Finished (Almost)

I spent the last two days building and installing a cedar gate to the deck. As I've mentioned before, we have bears. And they like sunflower seeds. A lot! It's cute to see them come up on the deck--when they are alone and/or tiny little cubs, but when they are nearly full grown and still hanging together. This year we have a sow and her three cubs returning. Last year the cubs were about as big as Chester our oversized cat. This year they are as big as St. Bernards and growing yet they are still hanging around with Mom as she explores all possible food sources including any birdseed that may still be on my deck. They were here Wednesday night sometime after the rain and left muddy footprints on the deck including a pair that stopped right in front of the sliding door for a bit. Someone was probably scoping out one or more of the cats who were looking outside. That's when I decided to do something I've been thinking about for some time: build a gate.

I went to Lowe's Friday morning and got some 1x4 and 1x2 cedar and spent the day cutting and assembling the gate. Saturday morning I went down and got the hardware to hang and latch the thing. Then I put the thing in place.

The 1x2s are on 4 inch centers leaving just 2-1/2 inches between them. That's enough room for the squirrels but not nearly enough for even the tiniest bear cub. The top is 33-34 inches above the deck floor. Add another 7 or 8 inches for the final step and we're talking about 40 inches from the outside. It's held closed with a very sturdy gate latch and the hinges are quite sturdy, too. Oh, I'm sure a 250+ pound bear putting its shoulder to this can do some damage--IF it wants to. I just hope that the bears are not that desperate for food.

As for the "Almost" in the title of this post, I'll be putting a layer of stain on this as well as the top of the rails when I can be sure the night time temperatures won't be below 40 degrees. (Last night it dropped down to 24.)

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I had cause to go into the shed this afternoon and discovered that there have been some very busy mice in there. They chewed--and ruined--two plastic gas cans. One was nearly full of non-ethanol gas and the other was a third full of 32:1 mix for one of the chainsaws. I was able to salvage the fuel, but the cans will be going in the trash on clean-up day. They have also completely shredded a cardboard box in the back. I hope they haven't been at the fuel lines for the mower, chipper or weed wacker.

I need to attract some more outdoor cats--the four or five we see from time to time aren't doing their job--or a weasel.

I hates meeses to pieces!

I mentioned that the mice really enjoyed their free range in the Bolt Hole while we were away. The failure of and spillage from the refrigerator provided them with an abundance of free goodies to munch upon while not having to expose themselves to outdoor predators.

I hadn't heard a squeek from them the first two nights I was here but last night, while Mark and I were sitting here checking our emails a few of the bold rascals proceeded to tap dance upon the tins on the shelf. I excused myself and set two traps baited with peanut butter. Within minutes I had two dead mice. Moments after Mark left the traps simultaneously snapped again and I had two more dead critters. And, while emptying the traps, another little mouse showed up on the shelf to investigate. I grabbed that one and killed it in hand-to-hand combat, so to speak. Five dead mice in about an hour. This morning the two traps were filled again bringing the total to seven.

It's unlikely that that's all the mice I've got int he cabin, but I have to believe--or, rather, hope--it put a dent in the resident population.

Maybe I should invest in a free range ferret? Even a wild weasel would be nice.

Bolt Hole Report, August 13, 2009

I drove up to the Bolt Hole on Tuesday morning towing the empty utility trailer. Wanting to avoid having to pay any tolls of the NY Thruway, I followed a new route along Routes 13, 20 and 12B to Utica. Interesting ride. I'd not been on the section of 13 from Cortland east nor on that part of 20 or 12B before. It shaved some 20 miles off the distance traveled but added almost 30 minutes to the time involved because of all the small towns I had to travel through and the lowered speed limits. The antiques fair in Morrisville didn't help much either.

The route took me past the place I had dropped off the lawn mower for a tune up and repairs (only had water in the gas tank, thank goodness) so I stopped there to ransom the machine.

Once at the Bolt Hole, I unloaded the mower and put it to use. Worked great at cutting the "front" yard, rousting out the toads from the deep grass, and mincing one that proved to be too slow to get out of the way. I normally try to avoid slicing and dicing toads, but this one didn't move out of the deep grass until it got cut in half. The same thing happened to a garter snake the next morning when I cut the rest of the lawn and started work on the grass beneath the apple trees. Gives new meaning to the saying "the quick and the dead."

Speaking of "the quick and the dead," the mice are back. As twilight approached Tuesday evening the deer mice started to tap dance across the tins on the shelf in the living room. The set up a racket that would make Buddy Rich envious. Disturbed me enough that I got the traps out and refreshed the peanut butter bait and set them up. Within minutes I had my first kill and there were four more dead mice by Wednesday morning. Four more last night for a total of nine...so far. I need a weasel.

As with the mice, the red squirrels are also back. Outside, thankfully, but still noisier than I like. They seem to take umbrage with any little disturbance to their world including my opening the blinds and windows or a deer walking through the apple trees. Since they are staying outside, I wouldn't mind so much if they weren't such early risers. I mean, 5:30 AM is way too early guys! Then again, I wouldn't have seen the doe in the apple trees if they hadn't awakened me.

Note to self: Before running over what looks like a fallen apple in the grass, make sure it's not a 3" diameter tree stump. Plays havoc with the lawn mower blade. Luckily I had a spare. Now I'll have to get another.

The weather has been great. Sunny and warm (hey! it is August!) with only one passing T-storm Wednesday afternoon. The highs have been between 75 and 80 degrees but the night time lows have been 55-60. It's supposed to be even cooler this weekend. Terry says the Aerie has been slight warmer and wetter with T-storms most of Wednesday afternoon into the evening.

On a weather related note: NOAA reports that the July temperatures in the US were below average with six states (including PA) recording their lowest July temperatures ever. (Watts Up With That has the story here.)

Tonight is supposed to be a peak night for the Persied Meteor Shower. I might just have to go outside after dark to take a peek.