BBs Blog

I have been battling mice off and on in the house ever since we had all that remodeling done. Between the holes Nick left when he did his thing, and the holes the a/c people left when they did their thing, the mice had plenty of points of entry into the house. During the day I hunted for holes, filled them as best I could, and frequently tossed poison under the house. At night, I set traps inside the house. At first, the poison, and traps helped keep the number of mice down to some degree. But then the little fuzz balls got canny, stopped eating the poison and began removing the bait, without springing the traps.

As I sat in the living room one evening watching a couple of mice that made it past the poison and traps scurrying around my living and dining room, I became so angry and frustrated, I actually picked up a shoe, threw it at one of the mice, and screamed “Get the *Bleep* out of my house!” Then, because I found myself seriously considering grabbing the shotgun and shooting the other mouse, I screamed, “That does it! Tomorrow, we call the exterminator! It’s that, or have even more holes in the house from me shooting these damn mice!”

Larry agreed it might be time to call in the the exterminator, and made a phone call to Orkin the next morning. At first we were told the Orkin Man would be out that Friday. But when Friday rolled around, the Orkin Man called and said he would be out the following Wednesday. Apparently, Wednesdays, are when he comes to Grandfalls. Wednesday the Orkin Man arrived as promised this time, and after thoroughly spraying, then setting out bait stations, assured me that in a few days our bug and rodent problems should be solved.

I did have a little problem at first with the bait station I had him put under the carport. I asked that one be put there because the mice have been getting into the truck again. I don’t know if the dogs have taken exception to having it around one of their favorite lounging and sleeping spots, or if a pack rat or some other varmint is trying to take the entire bait station back to it’s nest. After I had to hunt for it again Friday morning, and found it under the tree inside the backyard, I put it back where I wanted it, totally disregarded the instructions, opened it up, ran some twine through it, closed it back up, and tied it to the corner post of the carport. If anything bites or chews through the twine, I will make a trip out to the barn, and replace the twine with some bailing wire. If anything chews or bites through the bailing wire, I’m calling the Terminator this time.