Dear Lovies —
I can’t stand rodents — mice, in particular. The suburban town I lived in for a quarter of century had them everywhere, and no matter what was done to be rid of them, there was always one, running to hide somewhere. They were in schools, churches and restaurants. I will never forget one scampering past my legs in a busy restaurant as if it were midnight with no one around.
Ugh.
I used to secretly call the town Hamelin, and wondered who made the Pied Piper mad. Go and read “The Pied Piper of Hamelin” if you have no idea what I am referencing and get caught up on your famous fables.
So, when I got married and moved, it felt like a fresh new start away from the endless mice, as I gutted the entire structure and began setting it up.
Our kitchen in particular, while functional, is outdated and needs to be remodeled — but I kept hearing that it would cost almost $30K AND that we would not have use of the space for three months!
Since I see no sense in spending what amounts to college tuition on remodeling a kitchen — not to mention my heart breaking at the thought of not being able to cook for 12 weeks — I let that thought die a swift death.
We replaced all the appliances, put a fresh coat of paint on the walls, scrubbed the cabinets down, and added black and white pictures of musicians and leaders who inspired us.
There I was chugging happily along, when I noticed mouse droppings on my clean stove one day some months later, then screeched in horror at my hubby that I refused to live with mice!
He promptly called an exterminator who came in monthly to block any holes he could find in and outside the house. While that helped tremendously, I would still see signs of those suckers.
One day, I looked at a roll of duct tape sitting on the kitchen table, and before I could stop myself, I began taping around the sink area, and was so pleased when the droppings disappeared. Eureka, I was on to something!
I went to the local hardware store, bought duct tape that matched the colors in my kitchen, and began taping every sliver of space from the floor on up.
My husband thought I had surely lost my natural mind, but once I got started, I kept going right throughout the entire house and we have not seen a single mouse now, in almost a year!
According to the exterminator, mice do not like things sticking to them, and that they can squeeze through the tiniest spaces imaginable.
I fixed them, and put tape across every tiny space I could find.
Now imagine — I literally saved myself the heartburn and got rid of mice with a five dollar roll of duct tape. I ended up updating my kitchen after all, and it cost me $29,930.00 LESS, and solved the mice issue to boot.
I can live with those numbers.
Call me crazy, but it works until I find a more cost effective way to gut and replace the cabinets and countertops.
My sanity and the ultimate demise of the mice literally depended upon it.
Get yourself some duct tape — it seems to work on everything from “A to mice” and so much more!
Leave a Comment