From Mice and Men

 

From mice and men, ants and chewing squirrels - please deliver us.

Here at Square-Peg Headquarters (home) we're in the midst of a (modest) bathroom remodeling project. That, combined with a crap-ton of wet weather, has led to an inundation of men, mice, ants, and squirrels.

First it was the ants. Wet weather seemed to send them dancing into the kitchen and bathroom. This isn't uncommon in spring since the ground outside those two rooms probably fits the official requirements for a wetlands area.

But usually the problem is over before there's much time to bitch about it. Not this time! And yes, perhaps the delicious cake left out with no cover caused the ants to assume they were being invited to move in permanently. Sigh.

Cayenne pepper to the rescue. Slightly-British Daughter and I learned, from helpful employees of our local health food store, that ants abhor cayenne.

And it looked like cayenne pepper was working - no more ants dancing in the kitchen or bathroom.

Correction - it looked like the cayenne pepper was working. But when the contractor took out the bathroom ceiling (water damage - ack!) ants poured down on him like a waterfall (ack! ack!). Guess they were only hiding.

Next came mice. We've had an occasional mouse in the basement (easily relocated to the field by using a live trap) but none in the house proper. Until now.

The wet weather's been calling them in, too. They weren't so much dancing, though - just nibbling.

At first we didn't realize what was going on. A pack of gum and a forgotten Pez package seemed to have changed position in a drawer - and they looked a little frazzled.

Who's been messing with the Pez and gum? Next day a couple of mouse turds in the drawer answered that question.

Live mouse trap to the rescue.

Correction - live mousetrap to the rescue again. And again. And again. Night after night.

Manchild, head of mouse reassignment, was wearing out the grass between our house and the field.

We tried peppermint oil on cottonballs. Mice supposedly hate peppermint. But not our mice. Ours moved the cottonballs (peppermint dodgeball?).

Then there were squirrels. Chewing squirrels. Chewing squirrels who left enough sawdust on the patio in one day to carpet a small circus tent (holy shit, Batman - the patio rafters)! At least they stayed outside, but still! Ack!

And the men! All through the critter invasions there were men coming in and out - taking down ceiling and walls, taking out bathroom fixtures, reframing, disassembling, assembling…

More visitors than this (at times extremely) Introverted gal copes with easily.

But hey - it looks like salvation is nigh. The bathroom should be finished this week (that takes care of the men), the squirrels and mice and ants have already been dealt with (pretty much all by plugging up holes - blocking entry) and things will return to not-normal. Whew!

I'll say one thing (oh hell, I'll say lots of things) - dealing with the chaos, time schedule fuck-ups, and critter nonsense all at once would've kicked my ass royal a few years ago. It's still kicking my ass (occular migraines, stress-induced nutsiness...), but in a more Willie Nelson/laid-back way.

Thank you X-treme self-care!

Stay tuned, in the next post I'll be sharing about self-care for the Introvert (including some not-so-funny-when-it-happened stories).

How do we accept and celebrate our uniqueness? Where do we find community?

This is what we talk about in our brand-new e-guide packages: Square-Peg Celebration & Community is an Inside Job.

Hop on over to the Shop and read more (don't forget to listen to the free MP3 samples!).

Comments

[Kimberley McGill]

Oh my Karen! by the time it got to the squirrels gnawing away at the patio this introvert might have run screaming across the now mouse infested field never to be seen again.

What is an Occular migraine? But, damn, having any kind of migraine in a laid back Willie Nelson kinda way is awesomeness!

Looking forward to the next post - lord knows I need some introvert tips, I get wigged out over much smaller groups of humans and varmits.

Much love!

ps: love that you use live traps!

[Square-Peg Karen]

Yes, Kimberley - I'm kinda surprised that I haven't dug myself a hole : ) X-treme self-care is helping me a LOT! You know, I wouldn't trade being an Introvert for anything, but jeeeez sometimes it gets rough.

An occular migraine is something I didn't even know existed. I just thought I was having weird eye trouble until my daughter enlightened me. I read articles about it, but I'll be darned if I can remember what I read -- the symptoms for me include fuzzy bits in my vision, kinda like a wad of vaseline on my glasses. For my daughter it involved a sort of mini-fireworks thing happening out the side of her vision. No pain - so it's Willie Nelson awesome.

I love that you love that we used live traps - big love to YOU, wonderful woman <3
Thanks for inspiring me to get moving on the next post!

[Sheila Bergquist]

Wow, you've been through the ringer! I'm glad to hear it seems to be coming to an end. What's that old expression...when it rains, it pours...so true! I'm also glad to hear you responded in a more mellow way, that's terrific! Hope it all works out soon and am looking forward to the next post.
I also am so pleased to hear you used live traps...you just got a huge gold star from me!