88 Marbles
I run a Fort Knox of a kitchen with everything in sealed storage containers, so when I first heard little noises, I was in denial. I was too quick to assume the couple of droppings I found were blackened sesame seeds from toasting bagels. Now I’ve seen one and seeing has become believing. We have mice - not the cute Mickey type - but actual breeding, feeding rodents.
I’ve gone through my house and become obsessive about cleanliness (it's my house's turn to be on a cleanse). I’ve thought that if I shut off the food supply, the mice would go elsewhere for their livelihood. Unfortunately, a friend informed me that my approach was a losing battle as a mouse can live off a single grain of rice for days. With three kids in the house, it is impossible to keep such a small morsel off the floor even with frequent sweeping.
I was slightly annoyed that I was having to deal with something that I had no natural propensity for, but didn’t I just ask to be stretched? I took myself to the hardware store to see what I could do to combat the mice. A friendly employee told me that glue traps work like a charm – just put them down where the droppings are and wait for the mice to get caught. “But what do I do with the mice when they are caught?” I asked. She answered, ”Just fill a bucket up with water and hold the glue trap upside down in the water until the mouse drowns.” She told me so matter-of-factly that I believed that it was something that I could do.
Back at home a few mornings ago, my son and I heard a rustling sound in our laundry closet. Sure enough, a mouse’s tail was caught on the trap. As the mouse fervently wrestled trying to free itself, I filled a bucket with water. As the water level increased, so did my anxiety level and when I went to get the mouse and saw that it had escaped the trap, I was relieved. Note to self: I don’t like the idea of drowning mice.
Yes, I do get that at this stage of my life (as a non-vegetarian), animals are killed all the time to support me and then are hygienically wrapped and sealed and sold in the grocery store. I do get that despite the long chain between me and that killing, it is still nonetheless a cessation of life. I also get that letting my mice out in the park could very well lead to their deaths, but the immediacy of killing with my own hands didn’t work for me, even if I tried to stretch myself.
My second trip to the hardware store found me talking with another employee about my experience and asking if there was an alternative. He showed me a “humane trap” – one that merely captures the mouse so that it can be let out again, albeit a mile away from the nest (aka my house). On two consecutive mornings, we found mice in the traps and when I drove the kids to school in the morning, I also drove the mice to a park several clicks from our house. When I let the mice out of their traps, they hit the ground running as if jet-propelled.
And now the house really is as quiet as a mouse minus the mouse.
I run a Fort Knox of a kitchen with everything in sealed storage containers, so when I first heard little noises, I was in denial. I was too quick to assume the couple of droppings I found were blackened sesame seeds from toasting bagels. Now I’ve seen one and seeing has become believing. We have mice - not the cute Mickey type - but actual breeding, feeding rodents.
I’ve gone through my house and become obsessive about cleanliness (it's my house's turn to be on a cleanse). I’ve thought that if I shut off the food supply, the mice would go elsewhere for their livelihood. Unfortunately, a friend informed me that my approach was a losing battle as a mouse can live off a single grain of rice for days. With three kids in the house, it is impossible to keep such a small morsel off the floor even with frequent sweeping.
I was slightly annoyed that I was having to deal with something that I had no natural propensity for, but didn’t I just ask to be stretched? I took myself to the hardware store to see what I could do to combat the mice. A friendly employee told me that glue traps work like a charm – just put them down where the droppings are and wait for the mice to get caught. “But what do I do with the mice when they are caught?” I asked. She answered, ”Just fill a bucket up with water and hold the glue trap upside down in the water until the mouse drowns.” She told me so matter-of-factly that I believed that it was something that I could do.
Back at home a few mornings ago, my son and I heard a rustling sound in our laundry closet. Sure enough, a mouse’s tail was caught on the trap. As the mouse fervently wrestled trying to free itself, I filled a bucket with water. As the water level increased, so did my anxiety level and when I went to get the mouse and saw that it had escaped the trap, I was relieved. Note to self: I don’t like the idea of drowning mice.
Yes, I do get that at this stage of my life (as a non-vegetarian), animals are killed all the time to support me and then are hygienically wrapped and sealed and sold in the grocery store. I do get that despite the long chain between me and that killing, it is still nonetheless a cessation of life. I also get that letting my mice out in the park could very well lead to their deaths, but the immediacy of killing with my own hands didn’t work for me, even if I tried to stretch myself.
My second trip to the hardware store found me talking with another employee about my experience and asking if there was an alternative. He showed me a “humane trap” – one that merely captures the mouse so that it can be let out again, albeit a mile away from the nest (aka my house). On two consecutive mornings, we found mice in the traps and when I drove the kids to school in the morning, I also drove the mice to a park several clicks from our house. When I let the mice out of their traps, they hit the ground running as if jet-propelled.
And now the house really is as quiet as a mouse minus the mouse.
Can
you re-look at a problem and find a solution that you are comfortable
with on every level? When is stretching yourself a good idea and when is
it not?
