Follow-up to Mouse Visitor

There has been a huge discussion on the Yahoo knittingmachine group about keeping mice out of cars, buildings and so on. The majority of people seem to think the cure is peppermint essential oil. Putting it on cotton balls or whatever around the inside perimeter of the building or even in the car is supposed to repel mice. If you google the subject, it seems to be a universal cure so today I stopped by Michaels thinking their cake/baking section should have it. Well, they had Wilton Candy Flavorings, 1/4 oz bottles of Peppermint, cherry, cinnamon and creme de menthe. OK, I bought the little box even though it says on the bottom: Ingredients: Peppermint-Soybean Oil, Oil of Peppermint. I hope it works but since its not pure peppermint oil it might not. Someone else suggested putting the oil on a Always Sure-Pad with sticky back so I did that. I was going to stick it to the top of the inside hood of the car but then thought about the next time I get the oil changed, I'd have to have a camera to get a picture of the poor guy's face when he opens the hood. So I thought better of it and put it inside the car on the passenger side, sort of under the dash If it works, that's great! It sure does make the car smell nice and honestly, its not overwhelming which I feared. I also have a bar of rat poison on the floor of the passenger side of the car and one under the hood just to be safe. I put one on the ledge inside the garage as well and it was chewed on but the ones inside the car were never touched so my visitor has obviously left the car or I scared him so bad the day I took the leaf blower to it that he is still hiding in the upholstery.

Biscuit always stays in his seat in the back seat of the car so I don't have to worry that he'll get into it. If he ever gets in the front seat I'll stop the car and throw the stuff out.

so--hopefully that's the end of the mouse story for me! If I ever come across pure Essence of Peppermint Oil, I'll buy it but for now, the Candy Flavorings will have to work.

Mouse in the Car

Yesterday I went to town to get my hair fixed. When I got back in the car I noticed a little mouse running under the passenger seat. YIKES! I quickly jumped out of the car and opened all the doors, beat on the seat and hoped the stupid thing jumped out.

Couldn't see him anywhere, even under the seats so got back in and started home. OHHHH, there he was again, peeking up at me from the floor. So I stopped at Jiffy Lube and had the oil changed and told the guy there was a mouse in the car. He vacuumed the car and said he didn't see the mouse but did see remnants of his droppings...ugh! So I get back in the car and just about the time I turn off main street, here he is again, on my side of the front, by my feet.

OH GOD! Please don't let him go up my pant legs I pray!!! Please don't let me wreck the car!!! I stopped at a church parking lot and opened all the doors. Took my umbrella out of the back and beat it around under the seats. No sign of the mouse so I figured, ok, this time he must have jumped out one of the doors. So I get back in and continue home.

Sure enough, you guessed it! He was still there. I almost ran off the road but would have gone off a cliff so I forced myself to keep on driving and steering straight. I kept telling myself, its not worth killing yourself, the mouse won't hurt you, UGH! The stupid think climbed up the passenger seat and peeked at me. I yelled DAMN! (sorry, it just came out of my mouth...) He ran and hid so the last 3 miles home I yelled over and over again DANG, DANG, DANG (or something very similar) and beat my foot against the seat in case he was under my seat. I got home, opened all the doors and got the leaf blower. Blew that car from one end to the other, under the seats, under the rugs, everywhere I could find a place to blow.

Then I remembered, I had just heard on TV that little children and dogs can be killed very quickly if left in a closed up car in the sun, even if its not that hot out. So I closed up the car and told the mouse, if you're still there, you can fry in here. The car sat there in the sun the rest of the afternoon. Finally around 5 pm I went out and put poison on the floor in the front and under the hood. This morning I had to go to the dentist and my skin crawled all the way there. No mouse sightings and nothing had touched the poison. BUT I reached for a kleenex in the passenger seat and the stuff was all shredded in the box. It gave me the creeps and I thought--he's in that box making a nest so I opened the window and quickly threw out the box, just in case. Littering--I know!

Went all the way home from town again and no sign of the mouse, I do believe I blew him out with the leaf blower Poison is staying in the floor of the car and when I put the car in the garage, for a while I'll put that poison back under the hood of the car. I hope I never see that mouse again.