There was a baby mouse sitting alone in my kitchen seemingly too frightened to move a couple of weeks ago. I got a box, but it on floor on its side with some of the guinea pig food in it (hay). The baby mouse managed to crawl into the box where I took it outside and let it loose in my garden. I suspect the chances of survival were slim, but, I didn't kill it. Grown mice, my husband takes care but this scared little baby, had to give it a chance.
Last year I killed a mouse in a trap in the garage, and for the next week I had about five dazed, barely moving baby mice crawling around the garage. Not fun at all...managed to scoop them up with various implements and set them loose outside, but they had zero chance of survival. Probably made a fox happy.
A cat would be an obvious solution, but it's pretty much acknowledged in our town that outdoor cats don't last. We've lived here for thirty years now, and I know of ONE (!) outdoor cat who lived to a normal age...too many fishers (they eat cats like they're spare ribs) and coyotes...the local stores and on-line bulletin boards are always loaded with missing cat notices...
Mouse Tip Of The Day!: years ago after a mouse got inside our split system a/c unit and did $500 worth of damage (ack) I sought mouse repellent ideas, and found that a number of university extension services lauded peppermint oil (the real stuff, very concentrated). So I found some on line, all the verbiage about the product concerned aromatherapy, how relaxing it is, yada, yada, yada...and then I read about the first 20 comments in the comment section, and EVERY one concerned mouse deterrence. So if you have a spot that needs deterrence, just dip some cotton balls in the stuff and deter away!
Meanwhile I have a stack of old, reliable Victor traps sitting ready in the basement, and a dedicated jar of peanut butter.
Mice, scorpions and other vermin get handled by my feline crew. They don' do ants however.
My ice cream maker just won’t freeze on the churn like it used to. Not sure why.
Hmmm, no gin in the house.
Tonight's musical interlude:
I know t more from soundbites in various films.
All quiet on the LTE front.
Monday, Monday
It actually feels like a Monday today, which is kinda different.
The no cost extension on the project I have been working on ends tomorrow. The PI sent a letter requesting another 6 months to spend the money because we did experience some Covid related delays but we haven't heard back yet so, we are scrambling to get as much done as possible by tomorrow. They can't pay me after tomorrow unless we get the extension. I will, of course, finish the project but I would rather get paid. I have handed off the dataset AND the other statistician has told me she has everything she needs to complete the analysis, so, I don't anticipate more than another 10 hours of work on this project, maybe less. I can also petition my boss to be paid out of department discretionary funds. I'll ask about that if I'm going to have to put in more than 10 hours unpaid.
But the best outcome would be the funding agency granting the 6 month extension. They have said that they are willing to consider requests like ours because they know there have been Covid related delays. Fingers crossed!