Welcome back! Or, if you're a new reader, just welcome! It's time for another riveting episode of Tangle Fails At Life Tangle's Awesome Homestead Blog!
So, mice. They're cute, they're tiny, they eat half your food and pee on the rest. Ok, maybe not half your food. But they are definitely not the sort of creature you want running loose in your pantry. Our house has a partial basement, but the rest is a dirt-floor crawlspace, and it's unfortunately not as tightly sealed around the bottom as we'd like. So every fall, a few of the little bastards darlings try to set up housekeeping in our basement. We finally got around to setting two traps yesterday evening, after noticing some nibbles on our last tray of ripening tomatoes.
This morning? Boom. Two dead mouses. 
(mice have been removed from traps to protect sensitive readers)
I reset the traps right away, but there hasn't been any action yet; I think they do most of their activities at night. I guess if I was going to eat half of someone's food and pee on the rest of it, I'd wait until night to do it too.
What else happened today...
There were chores as usual. Always, always.
I played my guitar quite a bit, and spent entirely too much time chatting with brand new friends on discord. Time I really ought to have spent folding laundry or washing dishes or vacuuming the couch.
Yep. But see, that laundry is doing a great job of propping up the guitar!
My toddler was of the opinion that she was not tired tonight. It was a very loud, anguished opinion. My secret weapon came out: the selfie camera! 
Major meltdown turned into belly laughs and silly faces. Crisis averted!
And to be terribly honest, that really was all that happened here today! I feel a little sheepish (see what I did there?) on the homesteading front, since I didn't really do much of it today, but I suppose I must try to do better tomorrow.
I did manage to get a picture of the sheep in the dark tonight when I took out a couple pails of water (still havent gotten around to getting the well usable). They were mostly all bedded down in their fluffy straw pile, though a few were camping out in the leftovers of their hay.
It's hard to tell, but they really are sheep, not a slightly lopsided hedge with poorly distributed Christmas lights.
So that's it for my day! A final discussion question for you: what's your perfect mousetrap bait? We have pretty good results with peanut butter, but if you have a tried and true mouse-enticing formula, I'd love to hear it! See you next time, friends!
We recently dealt with a similar rodent problem in our home. Peanut butter worked best for us as well. We chose it because we were concerned about what might happen if our dogs were to find one, and didn't really want to be putting anything on them that might harm the dogs. They each found one at some point while we had them out and let me tell you, after doing it once they did NOT bother those traps again. (Snap!) Happy mouse hunting!
Oh nooooo poor puppy tongues!! Hahaha its not funny but it still IS funny, good thing they learned their lesson! Thanks for reading :)
Hi. I had mice at my old place during construction (I had my basement split so I excavated the whole thing 8 ft. Down and added steel braces). Anyway the little treasures found their way in quite a bit. Peanut butter didn't work, but when I stuck a chocolate chip in the peanut butter, boom, within minutes all the traps were springing!
OOO hey that's a good idea! Well, if they trip again tonight, when they get reset tomorrow, I think I'll try that! Really lure them in before thry get wise to the fact that traps=death muahaha
The Movie Mouse Hunt is a true story based on my life! LOL
Hahahaha!
I remember rodent wars being a regular thing at the family farm we would visit every holiday
I trust you those are sheep in the dark 😎👍😎
Haha at least they are not glowing red and evil like a typical flash photo
LOVE this opening!!!!
So happy to see you have a guitar stand so many houses are NOT complete without one!
My mom used to have an open closet (AKA an exercise bike) lol
Hahaha! I frequently beat myself up regarding my avoidance of housewifely duties, it's not thst Im a BAD housekeeper, I COULD have a spotless lovely house, I just always find something that's NOT housework to do! So that's what I always tell my husband when he gets home from work and asks what I did that day. "I failed at life, as usual dear!" He rolls his eyes and then we laugh.
That is PRICELESS!
My husband will call from work on break or lunch and immediately say, "Whatcha doin'?... I would go into a checklist of chores. Now he don't ask. lol
Hahaha! You were probably out-producing him ;)
I had two mice torturing me the other day. My office is currently in the garage, pending us re-doing the room that is going to become my office. Plastic is out here to keep my side warm. Those mice were having a hay day running on the plastic so I could hear them most of the day.
They completely ignored the traps. I had to have hubby bring home the new fancy traps and it worked, we had 2 dead mice that evening and I have yet to see another one. They really just need to wait until I am tucked in my new room & then they can have the garage. ;P lol
It's awesome that you can play guitar. I don't think I have a musical bone in my body but somehow I managed to give birth to a daughter that can sing. :)
Speaking of daughters, yours is adorable! And that picture of the sheep is amazing. When I first glanced I thought it was the sky and stars. Ha!
I wish i could get a picture of the stars here some night. We're so far from anywhere, there's very little light pollution, so the skies are amazingly full at night, particularly in winter! But the only camera I have is on my phone, which wont do super-long exposure shots. sigh someday!! We'll have to make do with sheep eyes for now haha
Ahh, I have the very same traps. And today were being deployed again. As the winter comes so these little rodent fellows want to invade my space.
Nope! Not on my watch...