Tuesday, December 2, 2008

Freaking Mice

So, a little over a month ago, I notice that there's some rattling noises coming from one of my kitchen cabinets. Kinda like plastic being rustled around. I go take a look in the cabinets and eventually find traces that a mouse has been eating my ramen noodles. The mouse itself is nowhere to be seen. I also noted a rather large hole at the ceiling where the power for my above-range microwave is piped in. So, I take some spray-in insulation and seal the hole. A few days later, no disturbance of the insulation. A few more and there's a dead mouse in the floor of my back bedroom. No idea what killed him but he's dead and that's better than alive. I figure "problem solved".

Fast forward to this evening. I again hear the rustling of plastic in the same cabinet. Thinking another mouse must have managed to chew through the insulation, I proceed with flashlight and framing hammer to check out the situation. Low and behold, there's Mr. Mousey munching away at my ramen. Again. The ballsy little critter takes a good look at my flashlight and apparently only then realizes that there is a 6'2", 335lb, ticked-off, hammer-wielding, human male glaring at him. He freaks out and makes a mad run for it, jumping down onto the counter top and then disappearing behind it.

And I was so looking forward to using that hammer.

Another investigation revealed that, directly under the cabinets where my violated packages of ramen were resting, there was another gaping hole at the base of the lower cabinets where the water pipes run to the kitchen sink from the hot water heater. I have now used most of the remaining spray-in insulation to plug this hole. However, one has to wonder if Mr. Mousey has entrance and egress through the underside of the cabinets where I was unable to reach with the foam. I guess only time will tell.

Until then, I've picked up all of the food and medication that I had laying out on the counter top and have placed them in a completely separate section of the kitchen cabinets that appears to be unaffected by the infestation at this time.

I'm also keeping my framing hammer handy.

1 comment:

Brian Junyor said...

I forget, but I thought you were renting. Isn't this something for the landlord to take care of?