poplar road

In between coats (I had to do three to get even coverage since we didn't use a tinted primer for such a small space), I did some house-cleaning. Namely a few days' worth of dishes, which right now means drying everything immediately and putting it back in the storage room. In the process I collected a few more things to wash, because the mice had wandered over things and left tiny field mice droppings just where I least expected them. The kitchen, too, has shown evidence of the little buggers, and I saw one the other morning in the master bedroom among my plants. The ensuite vanity is a two-level mouse condo with a hole in the wall on each "floor", and the droppings to prove it was used regularly before we moved in. What I don't understand is, how the mice got comfortable so quickly in the 6 months over the summer that this place stood empty – because when it was lived in, there were six people, several dogs, and an estimated two dozen or more cats (not to mention 144 varieties of birds out back, including the peacocks).

Our neighbour Jonathan, whom we referred to as the llama-and-goat man because he has a small hobby farm, told Richard that the previous owners had so many cats, Jonathan had no qualms shooting at them if they came anywhere near his rabbits. (Can't wait to show my neice these rabbits, giant lop-ears, just beautiful. Mind you, the only rodents I really like are hedgehogs, and I don't know if they count.) One neighbour who came by, curious to see what we're doing with the place, said the number of cats was closer to fifty as little as a year and a half ago. How is that possible, that a place could be overrun with mice with at least a dozen cats living here for several years??!! Do these field mice not have enough places to live, with 10 acres of property behind us used only by a family of llamas and the occasional billy goat?!

Generally I'm against exterminating things if they have wild areas to live in. But how do you relocate several hundred field mice? So the day that we plan to paint the bedroom, and spend the night in the trailer, we're going to have to use poison. I can happily walk around my yard and enjoy watching the flickers (woodpeckers) taking chunks out of the barn wall, and squirrels eating the last of the crabapples, but I can't handle mouse turd on my file bins and rolling around in my formerly clean frying pan. And what are they doing to the sofas out in the garage?!! Horrors. (Wallace and Grommit fans, imagine my hands waving Wallace-like in dismay to either side of my face.) Luckily, I have lots of other things to distract me, like whether this paint job needs a fourth coat, and what colour to do the great room, and what's happening on Enterprise because I missed the last episode, first time in three seasons, just when Brent Spiner is guest starring as Dr Soong, and I'll miss this Friday as well. (Didn't know I was a Trekkie? You learn something new every day.)

Anyway, I've left the tape on where possible, to allow for a fourth coat if necessary – more than enough paint, it's not like we'll use it anywhere else. Having to pull up the drop cloth so we can use the bathroom in the morning is a pain, but I really thought three coats would be enough and started just early enough today to get it done. Sigh. Tomorrow is a full work day so if I have to do a fourth, it will have to wait until evening. At least it's quick to do once the prep is done. Nothing else exciting to report – more on the weekend, I expect.