Just outside our back door there is a big black storage box that we call "The Coffin". In there you will find buckets, brushes, bags of glass jars that Shirley needs for jam, marmalade or chutney making. There is also a tub containing fat balls for garden birds and a grey swing bin in which I store bird seed.
Sometimes I delve into that bin every single day in order to keep providing our avian visitors with a tasty seed supply. However, at other times I may not need to access the bin for several days when there's still plenty of seed out in the garden or when there's old bread to distribute in place of seeds.
Until yesterday I hadn't been in the bin for a while. I opened the lid and looked down. There at the bottom I noticed something dark. Momentarily I thought it might be a big garden slug but then it moved. It was a mouse!
It must have found its way into The Coffin, peeped inside the lid and plunged down to the seeds near the bottom. It would have been impossible for the mouse to climb out - two feet up a slippery grey plastic shaft.
And then I saw another mouse. It had been hiding in my little seed scoop. Not one but two mice trapped in an all-you-can-eat birdseed buffet!
A more ruthless fellow would have duly assassinated those two small rodents but that's not something that I could do. They had bright black eyes and little pink ears. I took the bin up to the top of our garden and laid it horizontally upon the ground so that the mice could escape. I watched them speed away into our dying bramble bushes.
Who knows what will happen to them? Will they survive wintertime or will they be pounced upon by neighbourhood cats? They are probably still snuffling around up there in the December darkness exchanging happy memories of their time in the free seed restaurant. Dry and safe until a giant peered inside.
'Tis what I would've done, too.
ReplyDeleteAs for my two furry mates, Remy and Shama...they would've glanced up briefly, given me three cheers, and gone back to sleep.
You are a big softie - just like me Lee.
DeleteI would have done the same! Live and let live. And those two bad mice? Hunca Munca is one of my favorite literary characters. I insist that all of my grandchildren know who they are and my children are quite familiar with them. Now. Do I have cats who may hunt in the house? Yes. I do. Because mice in the house or even MUCH worse- rats in the house do not make me happy. But I don't go crazy if I find evidence of their co-existence with me. That's what living in the country is all about.
ReplyDeleteWe have had a few mice in the house before - then I must confess that I have used mousetraps. It's a quick death...I hope!
DeleteYour mice are probably back in the bin for free food.
ReplyDeleteTemporarily, the bin is now inside the house.
DeleteYour poor nice will be waiting around the door and will try to get in and inhabit the bin.
DeleteI will catch them and mail them to The Micro Manager. At the post office I'll say that the package contains cuddly toys.
DeleteIf you see two there are another 20 somewhere around!
ReplyDeleteThat did cross my mind but there are no signs of them in our house.
DeleteI could not have killed them either but in the house I would let my cats take care of them. I have to draw the line there! Right now those mice are probably wishing they had something for a stomach ache after over eating!
ReplyDeleteI hate setting a mousetrap and dealing with it when the trap has been sprung.
DeleteI would have tried to keep them as pets! Well, that's what I would have wanted to do, but actually I would have done exactly what you did.
ReplyDeleteThey looked so cute - like gerbils.
DeleteWe found a mouse in the dog biscuit bin once, Paul took it for a drive in the car and let it loose in the local woods. Soft.
ReplyDeleteThe woods are probably now swarming with mice.
DeleteWe have taken mice for a drive into the country as well. Never let them get into the car though and build nests, it becomes expensive!
ReplyDeleteSounds like you are speaking from experience Thelma!
DeleteThere are houses being built on the land behind our house and last year when the builders broke through an old culvert our garden and neighbouring gardens were overrun with RATS!!!! Not so cute as dear, sweet, innocent Mickey and Minnie.
ReplyDeleteThey chewed a hole in my summer house floor to get at the bird seed......
They have all gone now. Back into the new, shiny drains. I hope.
You have a summer house! Do you also have a croquet lawn and a gardener Lady Christina? The rat infestation sounds like the stuff of nightmares!
DeleteO that's lovely and so glad you were kind-hearted to release them. I found a mouse in the bottom of a watering can once. Sadly I found it too late to release. It was an ex-mouse of this parish!
ReplyDeleteWhat a way to go! I hope that my days don't end in the bottom of a watering can.
DeleteI've taken you into my heart YP, most people would have freaked out and laid traps.
ReplyDeleteLoved the comment on 'tarting it up' you made me smile, lol
Briony
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I am pleased you took that cheeky comment in good heart Briony!
DeleteI would have done the same thing! Now, any rodent INSIDE the house would be a different story. Once when we lived in the country we had mice in the house and I nearly lost my mind and insisted that we set traps--which Gregg hated to do--but I can't live with mice.
ReplyDeleteGood job you don't have the same attitude towards fish Jennifer!
DeleteYep, I'm all for live and let live - as long as it's not spiders!
ReplyDeleteMy daughter would agree with you. At the age of thirty she remains an arachnophobic.
DeleteI've written on my blog about a couple of different mice that were in our house, were cornered by our cats, and were set free, so I'm delighted to hear that other people have done something similar. But I also understand if there is a mouse infestation and different action must be taken. The thing I hate is people using sticky traps which basically hold the mouse in place until it dies. Even a regular mousetrap can be cruel if it breaks the mouse's back or catches it on the back end. I've heard that there are now sticky traps that dissolve when a bit of oil is poured on the "glue", thus allowing a humane solution.
ReplyDeleteI love all of the Beatrix Potter stories. She created such endearing characters and artwork.
I had never heard of those sticky mousetraps Jenny. They sound horrible - as if invented by Donald Trump or someone like that.
DeleteI love mice so long as they are not in my house (an electronic rodent repellent sees to that). However I came home from New Zealand one to find my garden shed overrun by hundreds and hundreds (no, I'm not exaggerating). It was spring so I didn't feel too bad evicting them all. It took a few days to repair all the damage and clean the place up.
ReplyDeleteThe fact that you were not exaggerating is disturbing Graham. What a shocking discovery!
DeleteThey are quickly looking for accommodation for the big addition to their family that will arrive any day soon. You don’t think the only thing they did in there was eat do you ?
ReplyDeleteWhat are you suggesting you saucy mare!
DeleteThey thought they'd gone to heaven until you intervened! I suspect they may find their way back inside the coffin. Mice are crafty creatures.
ReplyDeleteFor the time being the seed bin remains in the house! Besides, our garden is 43 metres long.
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