Friday, March 05, 2010

What It Has Come To




This note is posted above the controls of my stove. Just a little reminder, though I’m thinking, with the economy down, who would sneer at a little extra protein?

The other day I heard Milo at his food bowl, then realized he was sitting at my feet. Hm. The crunching sounds continued. Tiptoeing over to the bowl, I saw a flash of movement into a teeny weeny hole I’d never noticed before, where a pipe enters the floor. The resident Mouse Killah (not me) set up a trap next to the hole, we retreated to our bunkers, and shazam—within moments we had caught not a mouse, but a vole. For some reason this skeeves me out more than a mouse would—is it the tiny eyes? The fact that cats will kill voles, but not eat them? There’s something mildly satanic about voles, I think we can all agree.

So this morning, I hear telltale lumbering-about sounds at the bottom of my stove (ew ew ew ew) and open the broiler to find…four pieces of Milo’s food and some cotton fluff. It was a stash. My broiler is a vole outpost. So The Husband, god bless him, woke up and even before pouring a cup of coffee-such is his dedication-set up a nice little enclosed trap system (=shoebox with strategic entry holes). Within minutes of closing it back up, I heard scritching, snapping, scrambling. Ew.

5 comments:

Amy said...

Ew indeed. I think you need a hungrier cat. Or two. Now I have the heebie jeebies just thinking about voles.

Melissa said...

And a metal can with locking lid for dog food! We used to keep the dogfood and the vacuum out on the porch. Until we found the vacuum full of dog food. When I turned it on. Ick. It was very much like that toy that 3 year olds push around with colored spheres that pop about...

Linnie said...

After removing my prey, I vacuumed out the oven and broiler and turned it on to make pizza that evening. The smell was horrific. In a panic, we went out to dinner and returned home to find that there had been a nest behind the broiler, surrounding the wires and pipes for the pilot. EW EW EW. I vacuumed it all up, clogging the vacuum (quadruple EW! I unclogged it myself, thankyouverymuch), and reset the traps to await the next invaders. I had just used the oven the day before I found the nest--they move fast!

Unknown said...

Wow, all hail the back woods woman.

I am relatively mouse and vole free at the mo.

They don't bother me as much as the whole salmon and the whole barfed up still breathing squirrels!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Liz

M.M. said...

Man, you are all grossing me out big time!!!!
M.M.