A Guy Once Told Me....

....that mice don't like the smell of Pine Sol. 

The guy is my dad... 

Besides the fact that he is my dad and I think he's pretty smart.  I listen to his advice/wisdom because he has frankly been on the planet longer than me. 

It also helps that dad is a heavy equipment operator and in the logging hay days he was living in a 15 ft. camper out in the middle of no where without running water and electricity and was definitely in prime mouse country.

So when he told me a few years ago that to help keep the mice outta the house clean with Pine Sol and even leave some out in a small cup, not only did I do it, I also stored away those pearls of wisdom for later use!

The above picture is my tack/feed room.  It's not big, but it's big enough.  You can see Kage in his "man coat" showing off the space. 

 The first project Chad started when we moved into our own little slice of paradise was work on finishing the tack room for me.  So it is insulated and mostly walled in with particle board. 

I keep my feed and treats in garbage cans, usually with the lid on them.  I admit that sometimes I may not get the lid on correctly but for the most part, they are kept closed.

My biggest issue with cleanliness is of course feed spilling out when I put it into the buckets.  I usually don't let it get too bad before I sweep it up and I try to keep the door closed when I am not in it's general vicinity... 

So how pray tell did I end up with mouse poop all over the place?

Last year I had some renegade squirrel that the dogs and I chase about the place, but not a drop of mouse sign anywhere in this room, plenty around the hay...

(Kage listening for the mouse...)  But this year, blammo...a mouse is in my horses closet!  Every evening I open the door, and Kage bursts in.  He isn't the fastest mouser, but he really enjoys the hunt...and sometimes the kill too.  He sniffs, and I move something, then he sniffs a different spot...and I move something else. 

We do this for a few minutes, then I go about my duties..

This last Sunday however, I thought enough is enough.  It grosses me out that the little rodents are in the tack room.  They can have the entire barn, but just not this space. 

So the first thing I did, was think... PINE SOL!

Well before the Pine Sol is unleashed on their delicate little nostrils, I think clean this place up some...

Much to Kage's delight I begin pulling EVERYTHING out of the room.  He ran, sniffed, hopped, sniffed, wagged his tail, sniffed...and found nothing.

Bummer...

Once everything was out, I swept.  Keeping my eyes peeled for the place where this little pooper was getting in.

I really didn't see anything that looks any different than it has for the last year.

This blue lid above is where I put my 1/4 cup when I give the girls oil.  I couldn't get a picture of it...but the little varmint (or so it looked to me...) licked up the remaining oil in the lid....then it pooped.  GROSS!

But now I am getting off course...

This above picture shows the one spot that could be in my mind, considered suspicious.

But I was there when Chad put his had through the insulation trying to keep from falling from the bucket he was standing on while stapling the insulation.  It looks just like it always has. 

I even climbed on a bucket to see if there were any "mouse signs" on the ledge.

There weren't.

So I finished sweeping off my shelves and the floor.  Took the trash out.  And headed to the house to get my Pine Sol.  I took the blue lid with me.

Let's see them lick this now, I thought to myself as I marched!

So will Pine Sol alone work?  Don't know yet.  I know that I can't use any kind of poison.  I'd end up with sick/dead dogs and a broken heart.  So it's going to have to be the hard way for their extermination.  I am not stopping at just assaulting their noses though...

I am also going after their hides!  (0:  I opted for this kind of trap just in case Kage sticks his nose in one.  Those wooden, steel, spring jobbers would probably do him some real harm...and then there's Seven.  Good Friday, she has been in more freak accidents in her 13 months here than any of the other dogs...ever.  So if Kage isn't in danger of being nabbed, it's her.  Abbi is far too smart to get into that kind of trouble. 

So we will see if these work.  My biggest fear it finding a mouse that got caught, but was able to run around the tack room for a few laps before it expired. 

Yikes...

A barn cat would help, but I've had 3 in a year. 

Seven wants to play with them (Seven had a house cat that had to weight 20lbs at her old house.  And that old cat would let those pups jump all over her.  When she was done, she said so and they got the message.  So Seven is cat broke/friendly, but if the cat isn't dog broke it just won't/doesn't work.), and Kage wants to eat them.  He can learn that it's not "his" cat, but if the cat is of weak constitution it won't hang out long enough for me to teach the dog it's our cat.

  It's not a good life for a cat...or at least a cat that wants a human friend.  A half wild mouser may work...  But I will think about that in the spring...

For now, it's potions and traps!

***After  nearly one week of just Pine Sol, I still have some mouse droppings!  Grrr.  It's pretty smelly in there, if you ask me so this weekend I will put out the mouse traps.  Kage has quit trying to hunt the room like he used to though.  So either the Pine Sol is covering the scent or the mouse is coming in less and less.  I have also made a concerted effort to clean up every pellet of food I drop...but still I see the poop... ***