Throughout history, mice have loved man. Perhaps they aspire to be like man’s best friend. More likely, they are simply aware that if they move in that they will moonshine an endless stream-of-conscious buffet of those grains of rice that fell behind the refrigerator, or the lovely fiberglass insulation (it’s not lovely at all) to make a lovely little nest for their hundreds of cute little pink grandkids.
Many suburb folk have never had to deal with it. The kind of people who are admitted into think tanks would be more likely to think a mouse is cute and cuddly than a threat to one’s health, wealth, well-being. Therein lies the disconnect for much of those authorized free thinkers - they’ve thought of it, but they haven’t lived it.
And so, when I moved into the country, I found out. And boy did I. Up there in the mountains, or nearby corn fields, or anywhere there is likely to be ample food and a smattering of warming huts, your house looks mighty fine to those little monsters.
And your car. And your shed. And your barn. And… it’s just disgusting, isn’t it? Mice… are satan’s little helpers.
But it doesn’t have to be this way. There is a simpler way than that barbaric practice of poisoning the mouse and having the mouse find its way into your housecat’s food chain (why are those pellets still legal?), or dead in the walls.
Well, then there is the cat. The cat is irreplaceable. The cat… is the mouse’s best friend as the mouse thinks it was he who was man’s.
But I was referring specifically and also to design. Homes, cars, sheds, barns, rv boats, etcetera should all think about mice in their construction. But can I tell you a secret? Those think tanks are not likely to consider the mouse.
One of the most destructive hidden elements to a given structure beside mold is the mouse. The mouse can crawl in through a dime. Any given hole you might find.
If more thought were given to the mouse, and mold, and to rust, we might actually begin seeing cars on the road for 100 years again. And such a simple fix.
Did you know that most cars could be made mouse-proof with a simple hack? Lift up the hood, pull off that cover between the engine bay and the windshield, there you will find the entrance. They come in through the vents.
The first car I ever bought had a mouse problem that the owner sort of… lied about. I made it all the way to Seattle from Colorado as I moved before I ripped up the spare tire compartment, and the dash, to find literally thousands of terds. The smell only came up in the rain, it wasn’t noticeable in dry Colorado. But in Seattle, it was aweful. I detailed that car numerous times and finally got things back in order. A tragedy to my new-used purchase - think I paid $15k for that thing on a 5 year loan when I was just starting out. People lie about anything to keep from losing their shirt. Wish she wouldn’t have.
Then when I move back to Colorado, no problems at all in town but the mountains - instant problems. The mouse hotel was back in business, and almost immediately. The spot I checked for mice, the spare tire compartment, was again infested. Yuck.
But had somebody told me I could have solved my Toyota’s problem for the cost of some metal door screen? I would have thought they were chewing on the nuts carried into my car by these rodent vagabonds.
It’s true though… all I had to do was open up that cover between the engine bay and the windshield, glue on the metal screen, and voila! No more mice ever again. So simple. And why Toyota didn’t think of this? Maybe something to do with their think tanks.
Or maybe, they sell more cars if yours gets totaled?
