Having rewatched “The Sound of Music” in December, I picked up on “Edelweiss” right away. The lyrics are beautiful. The movie triggered more interest in the family and their real story. I read Maria Von Trapp’s autobiography and was surprised that their family home is in Vermont, a few hours from here. I want to visit there this summer. That being said, we once lived in a very old house, more like a shack. I swear there was a blinking sign outside that read, “Mouse Hotel”.
Funny. I made friends with one we called “Mouse Agin”. We would see him/her appear and we’d say, “There’s that mouse again. He/shewould come out of hiding if I was sitting on the couch and I’d toss it a little snack.
We don’t have a mouse problem here. What we have, are the BIGGEST roaches in history. Easily as big as a small mouse. They thrice as horrifying as a flying monkey! AKA, City of Oz). They are seasonal and do not breed indoors, that’s the good news. They are hideously ugly, fast as lightning and they do have wings! Although, they rarely fly. They come out at night and are filthy in the habits. Trying to step on one would be impossible. The way I deal with them is with the working end of my vacuum cleaner. You can sneak up on them, from behind, and SUCK them up. But they are fast! Extermination is useless. A waste of money and time. There aren’t any “traps”. They’re too light. And they can climb. Like even onto your ceilings. They come in through minuscule openings around gas or water pipes. I know in my being, they will outlive all of us. Like that old movie, WALL*E. They are as big as Eli’s enormous ears, honestly! (Well maybe not that big). Stay warm, love to the biggies.
Dang close! I live in Southeast Alabama, right above the Florida panhandle. It’s very poor here. Rural Alabama. My husband of 44 years owns and operates a chemical fertilizer plant, producing, manufacturing and selling the 7 trace elements, Micronutrients. Our location is very advantageous for the shipment of these essential agricultural products. Domestically shipped by rail, internationally by giant container ships. And yes, I’m surrounded by Magots. By I just keep my Jewish, blue self, to myself, and heavily rely on Substack to keep my sanity.💭🫥💭.
Water bugs sounds so polite and quaint! These monsters are nuclear charged cockroaches! I think of water bugs as those sweet bugs that zip around on the surface of calm streams. These dudes would make a seasoned biker yell, EEEWWWU
I will never forget being a 17 yo and moving to New Orleans. My parents had gone out and one of those huge cockroaches scurried across the floor. When the parents got home I was huddled up on my bed scared to death. I never made my piece with those guys and luckily we moved a year later😊
I lived in Dallas one summer and became acquainted with those. Somebody joked that they don’t swat them, but tie them in the front yard to keep away marauders.
Thank you, I will be humming Edelweiss all morning (and that’s a good thing).
Years ago, our shepherd/husky mix Tank alerted us to the fact that my daughter’s hamster had escaped by gently dropping the slightly damp but completely unharmed little guy at our feet.
We have issues with moles in our area, which may irritate me more than mice, its a toss up. However our GSD’s dont seem to notice the mole-hills in the yard at all-which is probably good! I can’t imagine the destruction to my garden if they did!!
I gave up gardening for various reasons BUT, one reason was the Paris Underground System the moles had built under my garden. If the deer didn’t get the tops, the moles got the roots! I had Westhighland White Terriers. 3 of them, and they were bred to dig out badgers. But lacking badgers, they dug for the mole tunnels. What a mess! Now? I have 5 pretty, wheeled, cedar planters which I use for tiny, tiny gardening. Mostly geraniums and useful herbs. When it gets cold, I push them into our garage. No more vegetable gardening. (I miss it bigly).
We resorted to raised beds for the veg garden and put chicken wire in the bottom of each one to keep them out. (Yes that is a lot of work for large raised beds!) The flower beds suffer, depending on which part of the yard they are in and what’s planted in them -the lawn suffers pretty badly-I grew up in LA-the freeway system there comes to mind! Lol
PNW, this winter (I’m in eastern NC) has been the worst I’ve ever seen for moles/voles tunneling all through my once beautiful yard. Of course, 8 month old puppy Buddy hasn’t helped.
Same here, Emily. We've always had a couple of vole tunnels in the "soft" part of our yard (the low area where water drains), but lately they have really multiplied. Paris Underground, or Interstate Highway System, are both apt descriptions!
The voles made a mess of my garden and lawn and the moles actually up lifted my brick patio. For some reason they abandoned destroying my property and moved on after two years to create havoc somewhere else. My cattle dog did her best, sniffing and pawing at the entry and exits, but then she’d go on to dig up my zinnias and daisies with much better success!
Ya gotta love a good ole dawg! I just got old and gave the whole damn thing up. (But I do miss it). $3.47 tomatoes, $4.58 each potato. Never had chickens. It’s a work of love not profit!
Immediately caught the Sound of Music reference. Ah little rodents. Cute you may be but nasty you are. I’m like you though. I cannot “off with their heads” so off they go on an adventure at least 2 miles away.
To prove the point of “They will definitely return”, a friend’s husband painted the tiny mousey toes with pink nail polish, (no idea how he did this). The newly manicured one did indeed return and the requisite three mile trip was never again questioned.
My dogs are not nearly so gentle. Bunnies, birds and mice have all come into my house half chewed. 🤮 I also currently have a mouse problem and I got one of these... https://www.amazon.com/Bucket-Adapted-Automatic-Outdoor-Reusable/dp/B0GG372CFY/ and it has been remarkably and upsettingly effective. I bait them with small pieces of Nature Valley sweet and salty peanut bars. (I noticed their preference in my pantry.) I also feel bad about taking them outside when it's cold, but not bad enough to let them stay!
The "dog meets mouse" stories are wonderful. It feels like the basis for another children's book! One reader's story of the giant roaches, however, will give me nightmares! LOL! You winter interlude stories make my days. We have an unusually large accumulation of snow this year and I love the added incentives to not go out! Hah!
Music - I’ve been living in a music desert, but listening now to Bach string quartets and Pam Martini and the Von Trapp Family singers. The world is crazy, but this feels much better.
;-D ;-D LOLOL!!!! You have me in stitches this morning!!! Some days you just crack me up with your comical stories! Thanks so much!!! ;-D You have a wonderful sense of humor which is needed these days. I love the way that you write and describe who did what to whom. I really appreciate your writings so much. Have a wonderful rest of your day while I sit freezing here in FL. And as ALWAYS... : ) thanks for the dog pics. <3
Having rewatched “The Sound of Music” in December, I picked up on “Edelweiss” right away. The lyrics are beautiful. The movie triggered more interest in the family and their real story. I read Maria Von Trapp’s autobiography and was surprised that their family home is in Vermont, a few hours from here. I want to visit there this summer. That being said, we once lived in a very old house, more like a shack. I swear there was a blinking sign outside that read, “Mouse Hotel”.
They lived in Stowe. A beautiful place. At least, it used to be…not sure what development has done to it.
Same here. We had a huge pantry in the kitchen, and occasionally, we'd open it to find a mouse sitting on a can of something, blinking at us.
Funny. I made friends with one we called “Mouse Agin”. We would see him/her appear and we’d say, “There’s that mouse again. He/shewould come out of hiding if I was sitting on the couch and I’d toss it a little snack.
Very hospitable of you!
I don’t think my third GSD ever even noticed the two cats in the house.
I laughed out loud.
The sentinel on guard while the Queen bathes. She will tend to the mice kingdom ASAP.
Love Pink Martini!
We don’t have a mouse problem here. What we have, are the BIGGEST roaches in history. Easily as big as a small mouse. They thrice as horrifying as a flying monkey! AKA, City of Oz). They are seasonal and do not breed indoors, that’s the good news. They are hideously ugly, fast as lightning and they do have wings! Although, they rarely fly. They come out at night and are filthy in the habits. Trying to step on one would be impossible. The way I deal with them is with the working end of my vacuum cleaner. You can sneak up on them, from behind, and SUCK them up. But they are fast! Extermination is useless. A waste of money and time. There aren’t any “traps”. They’re too light. And they can climb. Like even onto your ceilings. They come in through minuscule openings around gas or water pipes. I know in my being, they will outlive all of us. Like that old movie, WALL*E. They are as big as Eli’s enormous ears, honestly! (Well maybe not that big). Stay warm, love to the biggies.
Is this Florida?
Dang close! I live in Southeast Alabama, right above the Florida panhandle. It’s very poor here. Rural Alabama. My husband of 44 years owns and operates a chemical fertilizer plant, producing, manufacturing and selling the 7 trace elements, Micronutrients. Our location is very advantageous for the shipment of these essential agricultural products. Domestically shipped by rail, internationally by giant container ships. And yes, I’m surrounded by Magots. By I just keep my Jewish, blue self, to myself, and heavily rely on Substack to keep my sanity.💭🫥💭.
I can relate.
So can I.
Water bugs. I think from your description these are what we New Orleanians called water bugs. I do not miss this feature of Southern life.
Water bugs sounds so polite and quaint! These monsters are nuclear charged cockroaches! I think of water bugs as those sweet bugs that zip around on the surface of calm streams. These dudes would make a seasoned biker yell, EEEWWWU
My grandmother who spent many years in southeast Florida called them "Palmetto Bugs". LOL. Good old-fashioned cockroaches!
LOL, sneaking up behind them and SUCKING them up! OMG!
They do sound disgusting.
I will never forget being a 17 yo and moving to New Orleans. My parents had gone out and one of those huge cockroaches scurried across the floor. When the parents got home I was huddled up on my bed scared to death. I never made my piece with those guys and luckily we moved a year later😊
I lived in New Orleans for 17 years, and I can SO relate. They were so big, the cats ran from them.
Ah! The trials and tribulations of living beyond the suburban sprawl.
I lived in Dallas one summer and became acquainted with those. Somebody joked that they don’t swat them, but tie them in the front yard to keep away marauders.
🤣🤣🤣
Thank you, I will be humming Edelweiss all morning (and that’s a good thing).
Years ago, our shepherd/husky mix Tank alerted us to the fact that my daughter’s hamster had escaped by gently dropping the slightly damp but completely unharmed little guy at our feet.
Exactly in character.
Our hamster escaped to the back yard, where our collie herded it until we discovered the open cage door.
We have issues with moles in our area, which may irritate me more than mice, its a toss up. However our GSD’s dont seem to notice the mole-hills in the yard at all-which is probably good! I can’t imagine the destruction to my garden if they did!!
I gave up gardening for various reasons BUT, one reason was the Paris Underground System the moles had built under my garden. If the deer didn’t get the tops, the moles got the roots! I had Westhighland White Terriers. 3 of them, and they were bred to dig out badgers. But lacking badgers, they dug for the mole tunnels. What a mess! Now? I have 5 pretty, wheeled, cedar planters which I use for tiny, tiny gardening. Mostly geraniums and useful herbs. When it gets cold, I push them into our garage. No more vegetable gardening. (I miss it bigly).
The Paris Underground System is a good name for these numerous mole tunnels in my yard!
It is!!!
We resorted to raised beds for the veg garden and put chicken wire in the bottom of each one to keep them out. (Yes that is a lot of work for large raised beds!) The flower beds suffer, depending on which part of the yard they are in and what’s planted in them -the lawn suffers pretty badly-I grew up in LA-the freeway system there comes to mind! Lol
PNW, this winter (I’m in eastern NC) has been the worst I’ve ever seen for moles/voles tunneling all through my once beautiful yard. Of course, 8 month old puppy Buddy hasn’t helped.
Same here, Emily. We've always had a couple of vole tunnels in the "soft" part of our yard (the low area where water drains), but lately they have really multiplied. Paris Underground, or Interstate Highway System, are both apt descriptions!
The voles made a mess of my garden and lawn and the moles actually up lifted my brick patio. For some reason they abandoned destroying my property and moved on after two years to create havoc somewhere else. My cattle dog did her best, sniffing and pawing at the entry and exits, but then she’d go on to dig up my zinnias and daisies with much better success!
Oh my!
Ya gotta love a good ole dawg! I just got old and gave the whole damn thing up. (But I do miss it). $3.47 tomatoes, $4.58 each potato. Never had chickens. It’s a work of love not profit!
Have you tried peppermint essential oil sprayed around potential entry ports? Little snots can come through the smallest places.. all the best!
Yes. I don’t want to merely deter them. I want them gone.
Immediately caught the Sound of Music reference. Ah little rodents. Cute you may be but nasty you are. I’m like you though. I cannot “off with their heads” so off they go on an adventure at least 2 miles away.
Three miles away!
To prove the point of “They will definitely return”, a friend’s husband painted the tiny mousey toes with pink nail polish, (no idea how he did this). The newly manicured one did indeed return and the requisite three mile trip was never again questioned.
My dogs are not nearly so gentle. Bunnies, birds and mice have all come into my house half chewed. 🤮 I also currently have a mouse problem and I got one of these... https://www.amazon.com/Bucket-Adapted-Automatic-Outdoor-Reusable/dp/B0GG372CFY/ and it has been remarkably and upsettingly effective. I bait them with small pieces of Nature Valley sweet and salty peanut bars. (I noticed their preference in my pantry.) I also feel bad about taking them outside when it's cold, but not bad enough to let them stay!
I have one of those somewhere.
I'm telling you... the Nature Valley Bars are the key!!
I think they nest outdoors in cold weather quite well, but will slip in if they can for warmth and to find a food source.
The "dog meets mouse" stories are wonderful. It feels like the basis for another children's book! One reader's story of the giant roaches, however, will give me nightmares! LOL! You winter interlude stories make my days. We have an unusually large accumulation of snow this year and I love the added incentives to not go out! Hah!
Music - I’ve been living in a music desert, but listening now to Bach string quartets and Pam Martini and the Von Trapp Family singers. The world is crazy, but this feels much better.
Thanks, J.F. Keep doing good mouse house work.
;-D ;-D LOLOL!!!! You have me in stitches this morning!!! Some days you just crack me up with your comical stories! Thanks so much!!! ;-D You have a wonderful sense of humor which is needed these days. I love the way that you write and describe who did what to whom. I really appreciate your writings so much. Have a wonderful rest of your day while I sit freezing here in FL. And as ALWAYS... : ) thanks for the dog pics. <3
Those little critters find their “best “ places to stash their meals.