SQUEAK

[neadods]

I'm still struggling to get completely back into the local timezone. Last night when I woke up in the middle of the night, there were no cats pressed around me. Instead, I could hear scuffles and thumps out in the hall.

"They're playing with their mouse toy, they're playing with their mouse toy, they got new catnip mice for Christmas, they're playing with their mouse toy," I told myself determinedly and tried to go back to sleep.

This morning, lying by the bookshelf in the hall, was proof that the operative term had been "mouse." I put treats right by the corpse in the hopes that the cats would realize that killing one led to the other (it also led to a hysterical cat mommy, but that's a different issue). maureen_the_mad was *not* as amused this time to be called in to do corpse duty in at the crack of dawn, so when I went to the store this morning, I bought cheap toast mouse tongs for future removal.

And speaking of removing, I'm going to have to remove all the rubber and plastic stuff from the utensil drawer. Although we thought we had adequately removed anything tempting from there (taking out the well-nibbled hair basting brush), the Pampered Chef - of course the Pampered Chef, not the cheap stuff! - the Pampered Chef spatulas all had tiny little curves chewed off the edges.

So they are going to be sent through the dishwasher and then put into crocks on the counter (Pampered Chef stoneware crocks, natch; I had two left over from my short career as a saleslady). I'm not entirely sure how I'm going to deal with the drawer situation. Part of me thinks this is the perfect opportunity to redo the kitchen like I'd planned and remove all the drawers; the sensible majority of my brain, though, reminds me that I'm skint and that a no-drawer kitchen is a stupid idea in the first place.

Much more of this, and the mice are going to need their own tag!

Still, I am resolute in one thing - despite this, I'm still planning on spending much of the day playing with my new UK toys, wrapping presents, and otherwise trying to not think about the pestilent 4-footed hoard in the walls.

Comments

[moropus.livejournal.com]

I rented a house with no drawers in the kitchen once and it was horrible. I ended up buying a small dresser to keep stuff in! Where on earth are you supposed to keep towels, silverware, spatulas, etc? For now put everything in crocks and bowls and put mouse traps in those drawers.

Tongs. You really want them. Mice have germs. And yea for cats who actually work.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

It's about time. This is their first actual kill.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Where on earth are you supposed to keep towels, silverware, spatulas, etc?

In crocks on shelves would drastically reduce the mouse cover...

[steviesun.livejournal.com]

I would lend you our boy Bill. He might be 12 but he still brings bodies back. Unfortunately he's here in the UK. Bit far for a cat who's on medication for the rest of his life to travel. Although we'd send his sister with him, and he's not a bad hunter herself when she can be bothered.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

DB, Mickey, and Kaylee are a little too well fed to think of mice as other than fascinating toys. Still, this is the first time they (or one of them, I don't know who) actually killed instead of cornered and this is to be *shudder* encouraged.

[steviesun.livejournal.com]

OUr cats have always been well fed, however they are of farm stock and therefore bred to hunt. I'm guessing your lot must have just got carried away then?

[neadods.livejournal.com]

Quite probably. Mickey shows signs of liking the hunting concept; Kaylee is terrible at it but *wants* to be good, to the point that she scoops the kibble out of her bowl so she can chase it across the floor.

[jennetj.livejournal.com]

Mouse tongs are an excellent idea. I'm a little more primitive than that; I just put a baggie over my hand, though to be fair, I picked up the trap and the dead mouse just dangled from the trap. But then the whole thing, baggie and all, went into the trash.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I... just... ugh. When M lifted it by the tail and put it on a piece of cardboard I could cope with taking it outside, but the idea of scooping it up onto the cardboard just made me wibble pathetically. So tongs. LONG tongs!

[inamac.livejournal.com]

But then you have to wash the tongs... Inverted plastic bag over ouyr hand and then wrapped round the rodent and straight into the bin (or hole in the ground) much more hygenic.

Re the drawers, could you get open wire drawers - which should defeat al but the most acrobatic mice.

[neadods.livejournal.com]

I don't mind washing the tongs. I do mind touching the corpse... there's just something about bodies. I didn't mind grabbing the tail of the live mouse, but a dead one? Ugh!

[--kali--.livejournal.com]

I also have special "small, dead animal" tongs - they are very useful.