It's not a particularly enjoyable thing to get up in the morning, all bleary eyed, stumble out to the kitchen to put on a pot of coffee and see "mouse tracks" (also known as "rodent shit") on the top of the stove and adjoining counters.
Now I know that the furry little buggers have to eat like the rest of us terrestrials, but Patti and I are not running a cafeteria for wildlife here.. especially not for ones who leave behind their gutfelt appreciation in the form of little black oblong turdyballs.
Mousey gotta go.
Now.. anyone who knows our Pioneer Princess knows that she is a true-blue pacifist when it concerns our wild kingdom bretheren... both gentle and kind to all beasts of fur, feather and field.
"Do no harm to others".. "live and let live".. "don't eat anything that has a face".. and "Thou shalt not kabash little mices in the head with blood-letting killer neck snapping traps".. that kind of thing.
Little Bunny Foo Foo she is not. (you know, pickin' up the field mice and boppin' 'em on the head ..as the song goes).
As for myself, well I've never been quite so tender hearted to all things living, especially those that cause me grief of any kind. Still the challenge of capturing the little beast could be fun.. the important thing here is that the mousey be removed from the premises, and be removed intact with all of it's functioning body parts so it can continue trying to live just like the rest of us, only preferably somewhere other than our kitchen.
The mission, mr bill, should you choose to accept it.. catch the mouse, take it away and let it loose.
Oh those magnificent yellow crunchy things that you buy in the grocery store and can't possibly do a body any good whatsoever will be the enticement to catch ole wiley coyote.. I mean Mr. Mouse.
Maybe I'll have a handful of the cheesey bits myself before I bait the trap with one.
Ah.. trap. What trap??? a trap. We need some kind of trap, don't we? I mean, how are we going to catch this little guy without a trap? If "gut squashers" are taboo then what are we to use as a trap??
My little brain starts a-twirlin'.
Now you need to know that here on the farm I've got all kinds of extraneous paraphenalia lying around just waiting to have it be put to some useful purpose.
One first defines the goal and any conditions attached to the goal:
which is of course: catch the mouse without harming the mouse.
and secondly.. look around to see what you have to create the trap from available resources (and no fair going to town and buying a live trap or ANY part needed to create your homemade snare.. those conditions are what makes the challenge fun.)
So.. I found a metal container about the size I would need to catch a mouse.. even had handles which surely I could put to use.
Lessee.. if I drill a hole in the can and then put a cheeto onto a screw eyelet inside the canister, then loop a string onto the eyelet outside the canister and create a wooden bridge and a crank dowel & pulley system to hold it in place and hinge the whole contraption down onto an oversized ping-pong paddle.. hmmmmmmm.. I think this may work! well maybe.
Well of course you didn't follow all that so I'll take a picture of the finished product ready for real life testing.
The cheeto is on the inside and screwed to the eyelet, all of which which is tenuously holding the canister up high enough.. ready for ole mr. mouse to sneak into it.
Then our greedy little thief will gnaw on the cheeto.. which after some munching will abruptly come loose from the screw and release the canister slam-bang down onto the insurgent, who is now a prisoner of war! wheeeeee! (Geneva Conventions may not apply.)
So here we go. It's night. dark. almost bedtime. Time to bait our infallible snare and catch us a monster.
To bed go we and.. ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ (universal symbol for sleep)
Next morning I stumble out to the kitchen, all bleary eyed to put on a pot of coffee and what do I see? a sprung trap!
yahaaaa..! caught you, you scurvy little furball!
(don't ask how I took this picture looking up into the cannister)
So there he is.. or she is. (I didn't ask or check)
After Patti climbs out of the sack and get dressed for the day we decide to take our catch-of-the-day down the road a piece and hopefully far enough away where it will not be able to find it's way back. It's a fine day for a walk in the country.
Ok.. far enough. Time to let little beastie loose back into the wild.
Hope it doesn't run back towards Patti's foot and up her leg.
Well just for the fun of it I also made a field recording of the event. Click the little arrow below to hear what is happening at the moment we release Mr. Mouse.
Yep.. sure hope little mousey doesn't run back toward our Pioneer Princess, don't you?
