The Big Think

So I spent most of the day today patching up the entry holes for our little fuzzy friends. I did a real number on my hands while cutting up metal mesh to fasten over the exterior dryer vent area, and then caused a few more scratches and cuts putting a second mesh barrier on the inner part of the hole. I also completely cleaned out the inside of the dryer and replaced the expand-o-tube that vents hot air and lint outside. The old tube had fallen off the back of the dryer and the mice were crawling up the outside of the house, in the unprotected 4″ hole (which isn’t covered by the little cover because it was bent when it was installed 6 years ago!), then exiting the tube that had come detached from the back of the dryer. Now the thing is so ingress-proof I feel confident that the house is (or will very soon be) completely rodent free.

One last one had to be taken care of after we returned for the night tonight. Unfortunately the trap didn’t finish the job and the Great Protector (i.e. me) had to do the dirty work. I’ll just leave it at that.

Due to the fact that I lost an entire day today mouseproofing the house and cleaning my studio I have to spend most of the day tomorrow catching up on work. Sunday is Wash Everything In The House Twice day, as prescribed by my lovely better half. What can I say? If you had mouse droppings in your tea cups you’d want to do that too.

Don’t worry, if you ever come over to eat you’ll know that everything will be clean.

Our too-seldom seen friends (and fellow travelers on the self employed trail) Darla and Jason Cohen invited us to their annual cookout/campfire/commune with the donkeys at their property in far southwest austin. Even though we had to fight rush hour traffic for 90 minutes on a friday night it was still worth it. Hot dogs, chips, apple cider, and smores with a bunch of creative and interesting strangers. I stood back from the fire at one point and looked at the ring of people huddled around the warmth and was struck by the thought that I was viewing a common experience that is both very familiar and unbelievably ancient. A knot of humans standing around a fire with their backs to the darkness. It’s been that way for thousands and thousands of years. It was just a nice moment when I could almost feel the weight of history.

Darla is a personal chef in Austin (check out her page here). She’s become phenomenally successful in the past four years and we spent some time talking about the benefits and pitfalls of staying small. Jason, one of the founders of Code Bear software, is also of the self employed ilk. We all met through a mutual friend and whenever we get together with them it always feels like no time has passed at all. I just wish that there was more time to do stuff with them. It’s great to be able to vicariously experience their business ups and downs.

I may have taken one of the little rodents out, but two more have taken his place. One was coming and going in the holes I drilled a few months ago in the studio (where the cable bundles exit). That was the one I took out. A few hours later his partner in crime showed up. I think I chased him back into the hole. I set a trap right under the hole and closed the studio door for a few hours (it’s the solid core door with full weather stripping). When there was no result I got a can of expanding foam and emptied it into the wall cavity. Now I have a giant mass of expanding foam with cables running out of it, but I’m SURE that he can’t get back in that way.

We finished watching Ratatouille downstairs tonight (I know, the irony) and turned around to see yet another mouse sniffing at the peanut butter on one of the (4) traps in and around the pantry and fridge. He was able to make off with a small bit of peanut butter a couple of times, but instead of freaking him out we left him alone. I figure he’ll get used to the idea of snacking on the PB and one of these times he’ll pull too hard on the trap. Snap.

Finally, I used the rest of the expanding foam to fill in some of the known small holes around our house. Under cover of darkness and with no telling what was going to crawl up my pants I knelt down beside the garden shed outside to look at the dryer vent. It had a glob of old lint stopping the mechanism from closing completely. The result is a 4″ wide hole in the side of our house leading straight into the pantry. I guess that mystery is solved.

I’ll have to tear off and replace the vent completely, hopefully with something more mouse proof. In the mean time I’ve soaked a couple of paper towels in peppermint oil (which purportedly keeps mice at bay) and stuffed them into the outside opening of the vent. No activity or noise anywhere for the last few hours. I think any survivors have gone back to their nests for the night. Tomorrow I’m looking to either plug their entry holes or up my score. I just hope I can outwit the thing.

Jason: 1
Remy: 0

For the last few weeks we’ve seen evidence of some little rodent friends around the house. Mysterious scuttling sounds and random droppings here and there have led us to believe that we definitely have a roommate. With the help of Scott we were able to track him down and dispatch him the other day. However, we heard the same sounds early yesterday and discovered that we still have one somewhere in the pantry. And just a few minutes ago Erin saw one in the upstairs master bathroom, so either we have a single mouse that gets around VERY well or there’s at least two in here. We got some of those humane “no-kill” traps with the special mouse attractant bait and set them out yesterday, but the one we saw in the kitchen literally climbed over the thing without even pausing.

Sorry little guys, we tried to be nice, but now I’m off to the hardware store for some serious ammunition.

I’m back from the show and just noticed something… did I really write “Halloweed” in the previous post? I mean, I know I was around college students and all, but I assure you that wasn’t a Freudian slip. Or even a Chongian one.