What an odd day!
We got back from Anacortes yesterday, Saturday, and did a bit of outside work. Started a new puzzle, nice evening. Sat outside quite a bit and watched the birds and listened to the sounds of relative silence.
Forgot to mention that when we arrived on Wednesday, there were four dead mice in the kitchen. Looks like they were living under the dishwasher, went out for dinner under the stove, ate the poisoned food, and died on the way back home. Kinda yucky, but glad they were gone.
So, fast forward to Sunday morning. I noticed that my favorite afghan that was placed across the back of the sofa had a long (18 inches or so) rent in it. It certainly wasn’t there when we left on Friday – the hole was obvious and I would have seen it. I’m not sure it was even there on Saturday. Anyway, I sighed and folded it up and put it away. Figured I’d deal with what to do with it a later day.
David looked around and mentioned that he found mice poop on the top-back section under the afghan. So, I got out the vacuum and cleaned it up. We then moved the sofa and vacuumed the floor. Went to put it away. Figured the kitchen boys had been wandering.
David pulled out the cushions to see if there was anything else we needed to clean. When I got back, he was inspecting something in the left-hand back corner of the sofa. A big wet spot! He asked if I had spilled anything – well, no! I felt it – wet and oily, and smelled my fingers (ick!) and it was definitely urine. David noticed some mouse poopies along the sofa bottom edge…we looked to the right side…and there was a bunch of my shredded afghan and wool from the dog’s sheepskin bed.
So, we’re standing there, looking at this mess, when I noticed the mess moved. Just a little. I exclaimed “David! It moved!” He’s looking around, trying to figure out what I’m talking about. I directed his attention to the couch, and all of a sudden there was a flurry of movement – at least six squirming, moist, hairless, blind, mewling baby mice were wedged into the back right-angle of the couch. Completely disgusting and upsetting.
(Here’s a link that shows baby mice by day – I’m guessing they were about 2 days old: http://www.thefunmouse.com/info/daybydaybabies.cfm)
I did the ‘gross out’ dance, trying to decide whether to faint or puke. David manned up to the task at hand and, well, sterilized the scene as best as he could.
I felt completely victimized – these damnable rodents had not only ruined a treasure that had taken weeks to make, but had defaced our new sofa! Manic Mama had also chewed one of the cushion backs. I still see red when I think about it.
So, David put mouse poison on the base of the couch, hidden by the partially replaced cushions. I fear that, given that the other mice only made it about 2 feet before dying in the kitchen, we shall return to a leaking, putrefying mouse on the couch on Friday, and we’ll never, ever get the smell out.
Sigh.
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