[VAC] A mouse in the house

[Terry Tyler <tylerbears@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Hi Polly,

You just knew I'd chime in on that paragraph. Here's the latest update of
the continuing saga about mice, our two cats (mother and son) and our '67
22' Airstream Safari.

While at the Mt. Washington Rally in North Conway, NH, we were visited by a
mouse at dawn on Saturday. Our two cats tipped us off to her presence with
their intent staring (instead of their usual purring in anticipation of
getting breakfast). Then, we heard the scratching sound of a mouse as she
found an opening under the dinette and entered the room.

As I swung my feet out of bed, I disturbed the silence our cats had been
keeping.  With the movement of my feet, the mouse moved, the cats pounced
across my feet, the mouse bolted over my bare feet and serious frolicing
began. Back and forth the three of them raced. My feet were in their way.
The mouse was agile, quick and lucky enough to find her small opening under
our dinette, before either cat could catch her.  Had I not swung my feet out
of bed, I'm sure the mouse would not have gotton away.

Then, our cats sat at attention and stared for the longest time at the
opening under the dinette. When the mouse didn't make any noise, they
assumed their usual pose of sprawling out, closing their eyes and twitching
their ears at every sound we made. The direction their ears face tell us
what they are paying attention to.  They may look inattentive, but their
senses are honed sharp and their reaction times can be deadly fast.

Because this was our day to drive to the top of Mt. Washington, we left
after breakfast. When we returned by early afternoon, the cats were still at
attention - but facing us as we stepped inside. Directly in front of them
was a headless mouse. Apparently, she tried to run the gauntlet again.  We
praised our cats profusely before I took the mouse out to the trash can,
then we gave our cats a dish of their favorite kitty treats.

Prior to this mouse getting into our Airstream, I had stuffed steel wool
into all outside crevices (1/2" wide) along the belly pan.  Obviously, I
should have stuffed it into the smaller spaces while I was at it.

Later that afternoon, someone told me a mouse could squeeze through an
opening no larger than her nose. Now, I'm back to stuffing steel wool again.
There are two places along the frame rail where the belly pan touches the
axle housing. That's where a 1/4 inch wide gap exists.  Maybe this is where
our mouse found her opening.  It's blocked now.

Terry
mailto:tylerbears@airstream.net