This was so fun! And so on point! So with you about the tiny rodent corpses! And rodent pee and feces. Ugh. Did you know that some birds can actually see the rodent urine trails from the air which is how they are able to snap them up in the winter snow? Wish we could live and let rodents live but they will never give up on their quest to take over the world. I hate mouse traps because I am always worried I'm going to mangle my fingers setting the traps or that they won't be all the way dead. Dealing with all the rodent clan often feels like a halloween horror movie - but they ate all the popcorn before it even began!
I heard - and have now field tested with my horse stable gear - that the Dawn dryer sheets can keep rodents away. I am delighted to report that those Dawn dryer sheets stink so badly they do indeed keep rodents out of stored stuff if the lid of the bin is shut tight. The Dawn dryer sheets do need to get changed out once a month when the scent wears off, but they really work. Not effective for open air though, but I still keep a few tucked in my saddle and boots.
And important cold weather question: do you own a Carhartt winter jacket yet? Goes famously with Muck Boots and you will wonder how you have ever gone through winter without one!
NO WAY!!!!!!!!! Okay, this has the potential to be life changing!!!!! I literally ordered a ton of plastic bins that seal the other day to put *everything* into--I’m gonna try the Dawn dryer sheet trick! So glad you popped on here to mention it. Also, have not tried Carhartt yet but I will get on it!!! BUT ALSO - are the mice a big problem with horses?!!??!?!
Yay! So glad to help! Downy works just fine, too! Tried those as well!
Horses and mice unfortunately end up going together often because horses usually do best with grain as part of their diet and hay as the bigger part- and mice/ rats/ voles LOVE grain and think hay makes a lovely home. So mice/rates/voles end up being a fan of horses, but horses really don't appreciate their mouse droppings and urine on their hay. Like @ashara mentions here, a good mouser cat or two is worth her weight in gold! And a good rat terrier dog!
OH GOD, the truth of this post is gonna weigh on my mind for at least four days. 😂 DUH. Of course!!!! (And ugh, what a conundrum!!!!) Well, maybe the neighbors up the road with the horse farm will attract all the mice and I will live happily ever after hahahahahha
I've also used peppermint oil diluted with water in a spray bottle to keep rodents at bay. I had rats the size of a baby T-rex in the house I rented in Jamaica. Every day I'd re-spray a peppermint perimeter 😂
Great idea about the dryer sheets. I have a nice saddle out in my barn and four horses I don't ride, so I either need to sell the saddle or get a box of dryer sheets (I think dryer sheets 'cos I'm not quite ready to let go of the idea that I might ride again - in my dreams) - although we also have a bunny living in our barn, and since she moved in (I named her Killer), the mice have all disappeared. Fierce bunny!
UGH, there are these three horses nearby that are so beautiful it hurts--caramel brown with cream hair and giant hooves and legs--and I keep saying “man I wish I had those!” And my friends here keep saying “they’re so expensive to have and most people hardly ride them so unless you’re going to ride them all the time....” I guess this is true!
Those beauties sound like they could be Belgian draft horses or maybe Halflingers, though those horses tend to be large pony size.
My horse Big Mac has always had the life philosophy that being ridden is over rated but carrots every day is not optional! He'll accept apples and peppermints as well, but sighs in a "don't you think hand grazing me where the grass is extra yummy is a better idea?" kind of way when I get his saddle out.
Horses are naturally inclined to empty one's wallet out faster than even a good book store run, but it's the time intensive care that is the biggest factor. It's really a life style decision that can bring a lot of joy and adventure wether or not you decide to ever ride. Happy horse faces eager for carrots can make even the worst days feel a whole lot better!
So true, Kristen! My horses keep me moving, and with this aging body that’s a really good thing, especially since I don’t like ellipticals or anything that smacks of “exercise”. The exercise I get caring for the horses is well worth the expense. Plus they do earn their keep, as one of my hats says “Gestaltist” on it, and the horses and I partner together to help people get over trauma and feel better about themselves. No carrots for my crew, unfortunately, all that sugar makes their feet hurt!
A cat. A cat is a great deterrent to mouse/vole problems. BUT you might find miscellaneous body parts around, or a row of six or seven on your front step, because cats love to bring their people presents, and to let you know they're on the job. They're also quite cuddly when the weather turns cold, and there you are, sitting in your chilly living room wishing for an afghan but instead you have a cat or two, who will then jump down to investigate that strange sound coming from the kitchen and return with yet another present - hopefully with it's head still attached.
LOL! I grew up with like 4 cats in the house at all times but they were indoor cats - now that I think of it, maybe that’s why I never saw mice?! But then again, I never saw the remnants of their body either soooooooo. 😂😂😂😂😂😂 There is a neighborhood cat who keeps hanging out on my property and the other day I saw him in the woods behind my house and he was glaring at me with the hardest glare!!! Like almost creepy. Like get the ef out of here, I am hunting these voles. 😂 Wish I could attach a photo here! I snapped one!!!!!
Omg, Ash you are brave!! I feel all your pain...I can’t do it. I prefer to live in a hermetically sealed suburban house. 🤣🤣🤣 The one or two giant flying southern cockroaches I see a year is enough to send me to the asylum! 🫣
Literally THOSE! They will haunt me until the day I die!!!!!! I got up in the middle of the night for eleven years with my phone flashlight, terrified I’d step on an overturned one or SOMETHING. Gotta say: the northeast wins major points bc I haven’t gotten up with my flashlight once since I’ve been here in the new house! Just when I go into the garage, hahahahahahah
Lord have mercy. You are having the adventure of your life - as always. And I love reading all about it.
Mice - can't stand them. I will buy the cheap traps (that are the only ones that work btw) and throw the whole thing away. I know it's wasteful but I don't care.
Oh, ABSOLUTELY throw the whole thing away!! My friend D was like just take it out and reset the trap and I was like ARE YOU HIGH????????????? There’s no way you could ever get me to do that. That is one step too far. 😂
Thank you for this kind message, Vikki. I saw it when I was in my email and it made my morning. Really!
Hey Ash, go on Amazon and get the rat zappers. Much more humane and much easier to dispose of. No blood. Ok, call me crazy but at one home I lived in we had a rat problem. Roof rats (you know the classy ones). Anyway, the more we killed with the Rat zapper the less we had...almost like they talked to each other and warned them we were killing their kin.
Sidenote: We went on vacation for about a week. Came home and decided to grill that night for dinner. My hubby was trying to light the grill but every time he hit the button to ignite..nothing. He checked. Plenty of gas. What's the problem.
Click..click..click.
Boooh!
Fire!
Suddendly a rat comes rushing out of the grill with his back side in flames and runs straight for me.
Omg. C and I had this happen in Costa Rica!!!!!! Except it was just a mouse. But it was enough to literally make both of us want to throw the grill out. We did not grill that night!!!!! 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Also, Rat Zappers sounds so much LESS humane lol lol lol - I’ll check them out and see what’s what!!! Can’t believe you have them in Arizona. For some reason I picture nothing surviving in Arizona except for scorpions!!!!!
If you don't end up on an episode of Dateline during this reinvention of yourself, I'll be shocked 😂😂 I watch waaaaaay too much true crime to escort strange men into a basement that looks like John Wayne Gacy's did.
On a brighter note, I am highly amused watching all this adulting from afar.
Oh god, I’m going to resist googling John Wayne Gacy!!!! 😂 You know, I didn’t even think of that, funny enough. Mostly just because everyone knows everyone and the whole thing seems so wildly unintimidating. But god, you’re right! I’ll be sure to bring my buck knife down with me next time. (Which is a literal thing I now own???????)
Ah - I loved reading this. Big D and I are contemplating moving back to the country and getting back to a slower pace. And after reading - I CAN'T WAIT!! I remember the time my sister-in-law called me to their farm house to remove the mouse trap with attached dead rodent. Moving back to the country is sounding better all the time. Congrats on all the discoveries you made... and all the discoveries you have yet to make! Have you had to kill a snake yet??? 🤣
OH GOD, JANA, WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO TO ME?!?!?!?!?!!???!?!?!!? Someone said the other day that where there are mice, there are snakes, and then I thought about how I lived in the Central American rainforest with REALLY SCARY POISONOUS SNAKES, and then I thought "can it be that bad?!" But, uh, yeah I feel equally as scared of those little fuckers. 😂 This is why I am living in muck boots from here on out. I don't think I've worn anything but the green olive big ones from the hardware store, or my fancier British Hunter boots, for the past month!!!! Ha!!!!!!! By the way, what part of the earth is this countryside you speak of?!
🤣🤣Sorry 'bout that... But I'm right there with you - I don't care if they kill the rodents. I still don't want to come face to face with one. I think there is something fundamentally screwy with people who play with them, own them... 😖! The countryside I speak of is the heart of farmland in Missouri, not too far from Kansas City. And yes, I too have the boots picked out!
I worked in a sawmill for years... rats love sawmills. Rats are so bold they can make you wish for mice instead. I had traps, cats, peppermint oil, and a semi effective cleaning routine. Nothing really worked. So I told a few of the men I would give them a small weekly bonus if they could help get rid of the rats. A few days later I came to work and found three dead rats on the front steps to my office. Freaked me out! Who would put them there? So I start asking around. Glen's name kept coming up so I went looking for him. Yep. He caught himself three rats. Hoped the bonus would be good enough to party all weekend. "Well, that's all fine and good Glen, but why are they dead laying on the front steps?" "Jesus, don't you know what a deterrent is? The other rats will see them and..." For the record, it didn't work. He probably should have put them on a spike like Vlad the Impaler.
Hi Ash!!! Yes, i lived is a very cool A-frame in college that was FULL of mice that I could hear in the rafters @ night 😱. One crawled out! of! my! couch! while i was sitting on it!!!!
In a bigger relateable sense, I bought a fixer in Portland and did all the things (while grieving the death of my partner). I wrote a whole essay about it for my MFA!
No. No!!!!! I will never be able to get this image out of my mind!!!!!!!! LOL!!!!!! Oh god. I still haven’t seen or heard any inside the house, but you better believe I spray foamed every nook and cranny with special mouse foam. 😂😂😂😂😂😂
These are AWESOME. I just got some insulated leggings from LL Bean but def don’t want to get them dirty hahahahah. They’re these in case anyone sees this and is looking for a pair! 😂
This was so fun! And so on point! So with you about the tiny rodent corpses! And rodent pee and feces. Ugh. Did you know that some birds can actually see the rodent urine trails from the air which is how they are able to snap them up in the winter snow? Wish we could live and let rodents live but they will never give up on their quest to take over the world. I hate mouse traps because I am always worried I'm going to mangle my fingers setting the traps or that they won't be all the way dead. Dealing with all the rodent clan often feels like a halloween horror movie - but they ate all the popcorn before it even began!
I heard - and have now field tested with my horse stable gear - that the Dawn dryer sheets can keep rodents away. I am delighted to report that those Dawn dryer sheets stink so badly they do indeed keep rodents out of stored stuff if the lid of the bin is shut tight. The Dawn dryer sheets do need to get changed out once a month when the scent wears off, but they really work. Not effective for open air though, but I still keep a few tucked in my saddle and boots.
And important cold weather question: do you own a Carhartt winter jacket yet? Goes famously with Muck Boots and you will wonder how you have ever gone through winter without one!
Wait!! I went to Google these and all I’m seeing are Downy dryer sheets. Does it matter the brand? Am I overthinking this? 😂
Downy works!
NO WAY!!!!!!!!! Okay, this has the potential to be life changing!!!!! I literally ordered a ton of plastic bins that seal the other day to put *everything* into--I’m gonna try the Dawn dryer sheet trick! So glad you popped on here to mention it. Also, have not tried Carhartt yet but I will get on it!!! BUT ALSO - are the mice a big problem with horses?!!??!?!
Oh yes! The Carhartt jacket--and they come in pink
Yay! So glad to help! Downy works just fine, too! Tried those as well!
Horses and mice unfortunately end up going together often because horses usually do best with grain as part of their diet and hay as the bigger part- and mice/ rats/ voles LOVE grain and think hay makes a lovely home. So mice/rates/voles end up being a fan of horses, but horses really don't appreciate their mouse droppings and urine on their hay. Like @ashara mentions here, a good mouser cat or two is worth her weight in gold! And a good rat terrier dog!
OH GOD, the truth of this post is gonna weigh on my mind for at least four days. 😂 DUH. Of course!!!! (And ugh, what a conundrum!!!!) Well, maybe the neighbors up the road with the horse farm will attract all the mice and I will live happily ever after hahahahahha
Or a Killer rabbit. (Although they are a bit stinky.)
I've also used peppermint oil diluted with water in a spray bottle to keep rodents at bay. I had rats the size of a baby T-rex in the house I rented in Jamaica. Every day I'd re-spray a peppermint perimeter 😂
Oh WOW. I never saw rats in Costa Rica, thank god--only giant cockroaches! INTERESTING, since they have a similar climate.
Yes! Peppermint oil and cinnamin oil work well and are non-toxic, which dryer sheets are.
Great idea about the dryer sheets. I have a nice saddle out in my barn and four horses I don't ride, so I either need to sell the saddle or get a box of dryer sheets (I think dryer sheets 'cos I'm not quite ready to let go of the idea that I might ride again - in my dreams) - although we also have a bunny living in our barn, and since she moved in (I named her Killer), the mice have all disappeared. Fierce bunny!
UGH, there are these three horses nearby that are so beautiful it hurts--caramel brown with cream hair and giant hooves and legs--and I keep saying “man I wish I had those!” And my friends here keep saying “they’re so expensive to have and most people hardly ride them so unless you’re going to ride them all the time....” I guess this is true!
Those beauties sound like they could be Belgian draft horses or maybe Halflingers, though those horses tend to be large pony size.
My horse Big Mac has always had the life philosophy that being ridden is over rated but carrots every day is not optional! He'll accept apples and peppermints as well, but sighs in a "don't you think hand grazing me where the grass is extra yummy is a better idea?" kind of way when I get his saddle out.
Horses are naturally inclined to empty one's wallet out faster than even a good book store run, but it's the time intensive care that is the biggest factor. It's really a life style decision that can bring a lot of joy and adventure wether or not you decide to ever ride. Happy horse faces eager for carrots can make even the worst days feel a whole lot better!
So true, Kristen! My horses keep me moving, and with this aging body that’s a really good thing, especially since I don’t like ellipticals or anything that smacks of “exercise”. The exercise I get caring for the horses is well worth the expense. Plus they do earn their keep, as one of my hats says “Gestaltist” on it, and the horses and I partner together to help people get over trauma and feel better about themselves. No carrots for my crew, unfortunately, all that sugar makes their feet hurt!
A cat. A cat is a great deterrent to mouse/vole problems. BUT you might find miscellaneous body parts around, or a row of six or seven on your front step, because cats love to bring their people presents, and to let you know they're on the job. They're also quite cuddly when the weather turns cold, and there you are, sitting in your chilly living room wishing for an afghan but instead you have a cat or two, who will then jump down to investigate that strange sound coming from the kitchen and return with yet another present - hopefully with it's head still attached.
LOL! I grew up with like 4 cats in the house at all times but they were indoor cats - now that I think of it, maybe that’s why I never saw mice?! But then again, I never saw the remnants of their body either soooooooo. 😂😂😂😂😂😂 There is a neighborhood cat who keeps hanging out on my property and the other day I saw him in the woods behind my house and he was glaring at me with the hardest glare!!! Like almost creepy. Like get the ef out of here, I am hunting these voles. 😂 Wish I could attach a photo here! I snapped one!!!!!
LOL! He wants to know what you’re doing in HIS house. And let him do his job. “Just appreciate me, B, I’m keeping your yard vole free.”
Omg, Ash you are brave!! I feel all your pain...I can’t do it. I prefer to live in a hermetically sealed suburban house. 🤣🤣🤣 The one or two giant flying southern cockroaches I see a year is enough to send me to the asylum! 🫣
Literally THOSE! They will haunt me until the day I die!!!!!! I got up in the middle of the night for eleven years with my phone flashlight, terrified I’d step on an overturned one or SOMETHING. Gotta say: the northeast wins major points bc I haven’t gotten up with my flashlight once since I’ve been here in the new house! Just when I go into the garage, hahahahahahah
Lord have mercy. You are having the adventure of your life - as always. And I love reading all about it.
Mice - can't stand them. I will buy the cheap traps (that are the only ones that work btw) and throw the whole thing away. I know it's wasteful but I don't care.
Go get'em Ash. My money is on you - always.
Oh, ABSOLUTELY throw the whole thing away!! My friend D was like just take it out and reset the trap and I was like ARE YOU HIGH????????????? There’s no way you could ever get me to do that. That is one step too far. 😂
Thank you for this kind message, Vikki. I saw it when I was in my email and it made my morning. Really!
Hey Ash, go on Amazon and get the rat zappers. Much more humane and much easier to dispose of. No blood. Ok, call me crazy but at one home I lived in we had a rat problem. Roof rats (you know the classy ones). Anyway, the more we killed with the Rat zapper the less we had...almost like they talked to each other and warned them we were killing their kin.
Sidenote: We went on vacation for about a week. Came home and decided to grill that night for dinner. My hubby was trying to light the grill but every time he hit the button to ignite..nothing. He checked. Plenty of gas. What's the problem.
Click..click..click.
Boooh!
Fire!
Suddendly a rat comes rushing out of the grill with his back side in flames and runs straight for me.
Eeeekkk!
I jumped on the sofa .
My hubby says....who wants Ratatouille?
Omg. C and I had this happen in Costa Rica!!!!!! Except it was just a mouse. But it was enough to literally make both of us want to throw the grill out. We did not grill that night!!!!! 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂
Also, Rat Zappers sounds so much LESS humane lol lol lol - I’ll check them out and see what’s what!!! Can’t believe you have them in Arizona. For some reason I picture nothing surviving in Arizona except for scorpions!!!!!
If you don't end up on an episode of Dateline during this reinvention of yourself, I'll be shocked 😂😂 I watch waaaaaay too much true crime to escort strange men into a basement that looks like John Wayne Gacy's did.
On a brighter note, I am highly amused watching all this adulting from afar.
Oh god, I’m going to resist googling John Wayne Gacy!!!! 😂 You know, I didn’t even think of that, funny enough. Mostly just because everyone knows everyone and the whole thing seems so wildly unintimidating. But god, you’re right! I’ll be sure to bring my buck knife down with me next time. (Which is a literal thing I now own???????)
Ah - I loved reading this. Big D and I are contemplating moving back to the country and getting back to a slower pace. And after reading - I CAN'T WAIT!! I remember the time my sister-in-law called me to their farm house to remove the mouse trap with attached dead rodent. Moving back to the country is sounding better all the time. Congrats on all the discoveries you made... and all the discoveries you have yet to make! Have you had to kill a snake yet??? 🤣
OH GOD, JANA, WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO TO ME?!?!?!?!?!!???!?!?!!? Someone said the other day that where there are mice, there are snakes, and then I thought about how I lived in the Central American rainforest with REALLY SCARY POISONOUS SNAKES, and then I thought "can it be that bad?!" But, uh, yeah I feel equally as scared of those little fuckers. 😂 This is why I am living in muck boots from here on out. I don't think I've worn anything but the green olive big ones from the hardware store, or my fancier British Hunter boots, for the past month!!!! Ha!!!!!!! By the way, what part of the earth is this countryside you speak of?!
🤣🤣Sorry 'bout that... But I'm right there with you - I don't care if they kill the rodents. I still don't want to come face to face with one. I think there is something fundamentally screwy with people who play with them, own them... 😖! The countryside I speak of is the heart of farmland in Missouri, not too far from Kansas City. And yes, I too have the boots picked out!
The boots are really 75% of the reason I love it here so much!!!!! They also say the ones from La Chameau are SERIOUS SEX PISTOLS.
I worked in a sawmill for years... rats love sawmills. Rats are so bold they can make you wish for mice instead. I had traps, cats, peppermint oil, and a semi effective cleaning routine. Nothing really worked. So I told a few of the men I would give them a small weekly bonus if they could help get rid of the rats. A few days later I came to work and found three dead rats on the front steps to my office. Freaked me out! Who would put them there? So I start asking around. Glen's name kept coming up so I went looking for him. Yep. He caught himself three rats. Hoped the bonus would be good enough to party all weekend. "Well, that's all fine and good Glen, but why are they dead laying on the front steps?" "Jesus, don't you know what a deterrent is? The other rats will see them and..." For the record, it didn't work. He probably should have put them on a spike like Vlad the Impaler.
I love this soooo much!!! And can relate to buying a fixer full of this fun stuff.
Oooo! Have you had something similar in the past?! (Also, HI, NEVA!!!!!!!!)
Hi Ash!!! Yes, i lived is a very cool A-frame in college that was FULL of mice that I could hear in the rafters @ night 😱. One crawled out! of! my! couch! while i was sitting on it!!!!
In a bigger relateable sense, I bought a fixer in Portland and did all the things (while grieving the death of my partner). I wrote a whole essay about it for my MFA!
No. No!!!!! I will never be able to get this image out of my mind!!!!!!!! LOL!!!!!! Oh god. I still haven’t seen or heard any inside the house, but you better believe I spray foamed every nook and cranny with special mouse foam. 😂😂😂😂😂😂
These leggings are awesome for "farming" or yardwork. I have 3 pair. Lots of pockets, good stretchy fit and reasonable price. https://www.carhartt.com/product/103609/womens-carhartt-force-lightweight-pocket-legging?categoryCode=default&colorCode=217_SW
These are AWESOME. I just got some insulated leggings from LL Bean but def don’t want to get them dirty hahahahah. They’re these in case anyone sees this and is looking for a pair! 😂
https://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/127471?page=womens-perfect-fit-legging-fleece-back-womens-petite&bc=&feat=leggings-SR0&csp=a&searchTerm=leggings&pos=6
Fleece lined leggings are great!!! Fleece lined sweat pants are fantastic too!!
Those are awesomer. I needed these yesterday! Thanks.