Forget the Cats! Another MICE Invasion!!!

Greetings fellow iris enthusiasts...
 
As we all busy ourselves with bedding down everything for the winter, I have
yet another tale of woe from the PooreHouse...  Either here or on the Daylily
net a few weeks back someone/several were concerned about cats in the beds...
I remain here to tell you, GIVE ME CATS in the gardens & in the beds any day!
They help keep down the MICE population!!!  
 
Last year about this time I ventured out into the metal outbuildings to begin
retrieving several thousand strings of lights to preliminarily hang for
halloween (clear ones, green ones-for monster ornaments, & purple ones-for the
grim reapers) which can be left up to give me a big jump on having Christmas
lights already hung...  (Hanging 20,000 every year takes a while you know...) 
 
Anyway what to my wondering eyes should appear but 12,000 Christmas lights
chewed up into SMITHEREENS!  Some of the strings of lights (most started out
as hundreds) only had 1 light left in a row...  The mice had gotten into the
sheds into the cardboard boxes and chewed every green wire on either side of
almost every light... You can only imagine the terrible mess & all the time it
took to clean it all up, not to mention replacing all those destroyed!
 
I had wondered why I hadn't seen any mice this year...  Kitty has been having
a good appetite...  Unlike last year when she didn't seem to want any cat food
for about 6 weeks...  I've been keeping a close eye on the boxes of lights in
the sheds...  NO evidence of any mice in the sheds this year...  
 
THEN TODAY I come home from a very long & brutal day at work (everybody is
going nutsy cuckoo over getting all downtown OKC ready for the Murrah Bombsite
Memorial dedication this weekend...) and am informed upon hitting the driveway
that the huge 50 pound bag of alfalfa pellets/rabbit food (awaiting the last
of my pots of Irises and daylilies to go into the beds) was FULL of families
of MICE...  My ma nailed 5 of them...  Kitty (my outdoor black & white
domestic shorthair) grabbed 2 of them & the rest scampered away...  
 
Now question???  That bag of alfalfa pellets is now all contaminated isn't
it???  Should I even try to put it way out back by itself or on top of the
compost pile????   Mice are such filthy varmits...  
 
Additionally last year they managed to devour over 1000 brand new peat pots
(even inside the plastic covering they came in) leaving nothing but smelly
peat grains, barely identifiable...  I guess things could be worse...  The
mice could have gotten into the house...  I can only imagine what my 3 indoor
persian longhairs would have thought as they sat staring...  I'd venture to
guess none of them would have a clue what to do with a mouse... Mice education
doesn't seem to come with pedigrees...
 
Hopefully no more crokings of doom from me for the remainder of this week...
Please let me know what you all think I should do about the damp (yes I
SPELLED it correctly DAMP----we have had rain now) alfalfa pellets!
 
Kath in OKC...
AIS Region 22,  USDA Zone 7

with several dozen irises yet to be potted up!

-- BEGIN included message

  • To: D*@MAELSTROM.STJOHNS.EDU
  • Subject: Forget the Cats! Another MICE Invasion!!!
  • From: P*@aol.com
  • Date: Wed, 21 Oct 1998 00:33:28 EDT
Greetings fellow daylily lovers...

As we all busy ourselves with bedding down the daylilies for the winter, I
have yet another tale of woe from the PooreHouse...  Either here or on Iris-
talk a few weeks back someone/several were concerned about cats in the beds...
I remain here to tell you, GIVE ME CATS in the gardens & in the beds any day!
They help keep down the MICE population!!!  

Last year about this time I ventured out into the metal outbuildings to begin
retrieving several thousand strings of lights to preliminarily hang for
halloween (clear ones, green ones-for monster ornaments, & purple ones-for the
grim reapers) which can be left up to give me a big jump on having Christmas
lights already hung...  (Hanging 20,000 every year takes a while you know...) 

Anyway what to my wondering eyes should appear but 12,000 Christmas lights
chewed up into SMITHEREENS!  Some of the strings of lights (most started out
as hundreds) only had 1 light left in a row...  The mice had gotten into the
sheds into the cardboard boxes and chewed every green wire on either side of
almost every light... You can only imagine the terrible mess & all the time it
took to clean it all up, not to mention replacing all those destroyed!

I had wondered why I hadn't seen any mice this year...  Kitty has been having
a good appetite...  Unlike last year when she didn't seem to want any cat food
for about 6 weeks...  I've been keeping a close eye on the boxes of lights in
the sheds...  NO evidence of any mice in the sheds this year...  

THEN TODAY I come home from a very long & brutal day at work (everybody is
going nutsy cuckoo over getting all downtown OKC ready for the Murrah Bombsite
Memorial dedication this weekend...) and am informed upon hitting the driveway
that the huge 50 pound bag of alfalfa pellets/rabbit food (awaiting the last
of my pots of hems to go into the beds) was FULL of families of MICE...  My ma
nailed 5 of them...  Kitty (my outdoor black & white domestic shorthair)
grabbed 2 of them & the rest scampered away...  

Now question???  That bag of alfalfa pellets is now all contaminated isn't
it???  Should I even try to put it way out back by itself or on top of the
compost pile????   Mice are such filthy varmits...  

Additionally last year they managed to devour over 1000 brand new peat pots
(even inside the plastic covering they came in) leaving nothing but smelly
peat grains, barely identifiable...  I guess things could be worse...  The
mice could have gotten into the house...  I can only imagine what my 3 indoor
persian longhairs would have thought as they sat staring...  I'd venture to
guess none of them would have a clue what to do with a mouse... Mice education
doesn't seem to come with pedigrees...

Hopefully no more crokings of doom from me for the remainder of this week...
Please let me know what you all think I should do about the damp, (yes I
SPELLED it correctly DAMP----we have had rain now) alfalfa pellets!

Kath in OKC...
AHS Region 11,  USDA Zone 7

with only a few more spiders yet to go into pots...

-- END included message

Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index