Greg -
The rain subsided yesterday afternoon and the day was very dry, although the clouds hung in there for until "sunset". Rain returned around three this morning and by six had progressed to a steady downpour. It was around then that I recieved a text from Dee telling me that the conditions were too poor for boating and that we'd have to postpone our Anan trip another day. As soon as I received the text, however, the weather began to steadily improve and by eleven we had a nearly cloudless day. Any day that you need sunglasses is a good weather day in Wrangell. I let Jack sleep in until he awoke around ten thirty, at which point he asked "why did you let me sleep in so long?" I believe that the term is "ingrate".
I had a long night. Soon after turning in, Jack asked me if the scraping sound was coming from me? I was just about to ask him the same thing. I got up and checked outside and saw nothing (I checked through the window first). I jumped back into bed and had just started to drift off when I heard a sound similar to that of rain blowing off the trees onto the camper. The night was absolutely still so I just wrote it off to a night of strange noises. The rain sound continued occasionally until I came to the realization that I was hearing the scurry of feet. I jumped out of be and shined my flashlight through a space between the foot of my bed and the closet and saw a mouse crawling over the plumbing. I looked through every cabinet and closet that I thought might contain the mousetrap that I set in the camper each winter with no luck. I was just checking the last cabinet when I saw the thing running across the floor. It ran under our table where it squeezed through a small opening between the seat and the wall. I sat for a while and thought about how I might remedy the situation and while I thought, I noticed that the mouse would crawl back out of the hole over and over again. I opened our gear hatch at the back of the camper and grabbed the net that I use for trout fishing. I set an amber nightlight it on the opposite cushion, crawled onto the cushion, and held the net over the small opening. It took about twenty minutes but, eventually, out he came. I waited until he was perfectly placed and slammed the net down over him pulling him off of the small ledge onto the carpet. I never thought that I could actually catch him so I really had to no plan other than to try to net the thing. I thought and thought but couldn't come up with a way to get the net and the mouse out of the camper without losing him so I took a tube of caulk and dispatched the little guy. The most amazing thing is that Jack never once stirred during the entire thing....not when I smacked the net down, not when I smashed the caulk container against the floor, or when I opened the door to fling him into the woods. This morning, Jack remarked to me after asking me why I let him sleep so long, "you know Dad, I've got this sleep thing down." Truer words have never been spoken.
Today, I went directly to the hardware store and picked up a few mousetraps. I want to make sure that all of his descendents - probably five or six generations since it entered the camper - meet the same fate.
Our site looking toward Wrangell
The rain subsided yesterday afternoon and the day was very dry, although the clouds hung in there for until "sunset". Rain returned around three this morning and by six had progressed to a steady downpour. It was around then that I recieved a text from Dee telling me that the conditions were too poor for boating and that we'd have to postpone our Anan trip another day. As soon as I received the text, however, the weather began to steadily improve and by eleven we had a nearly cloudless day. Any day that you need sunglasses is a good weather day in Wrangell. I let Jack sleep in until he awoke around ten thirty, at which point he asked "why did you let me sleep in so long?" I believe that the term is "ingrate".
I had a long night. Soon after turning in, Jack asked me if the scraping sound was coming from me? I was just about to ask him the same thing. I got up and checked outside and saw nothing (I checked through the window first). I jumped back into bed and had just started to drift off when I heard a sound similar to that of rain blowing off the trees onto the camper. The night was absolutely still so I just wrote it off to a night of strange noises. The rain sound continued occasionally until I came to the realization that I was hearing the scurry of feet. I jumped out of be and shined my flashlight through a space between the foot of my bed and the closet and saw a mouse crawling over the plumbing. I looked through every cabinet and closet that I thought might contain the mousetrap that I set in the camper each winter with no luck. I was just checking the last cabinet when I saw the thing running across the floor. It ran under our table where it squeezed through a small opening between the seat and the wall. I sat for a while and thought about how I might remedy the situation and while I thought, I noticed that the mouse would crawl back out of the hole over and over again. I opened our gear hatch at the back of the camper and grabbed the net that I use for trout fishing. I set an amber nightlight it on the opposite cushion, crawled onto the cushion, and held the net over the small opening. It took about twenty minutes but, eventually, out he came. I waited until he was perfectly placed and slammed the net down over him pulling him off of the small ledge onto the carpet. I never thought that I could actually catch him so I really had to no plan other than to try to net the thing. I thought and thought but couldn't come up with a way to get the net and the mouse out of the camper without losing him so I took a tube of caulk and dispatched the little guy. The most amazing thing is that Jack never once stirred during the entire thing....not when I smacked the net down, not when I smashed the caulk container against the floor, or when I opened the door to fling him into the woods. This morning, Jack remarked to me after asking me why I let him sleep so long, "you know Dad, I've got this sleep thing down." Truer words have never been spoken.
Today, I went directly to the hardware store and picked up a few mousetraps. I want to make sure that all of his descendents - probably five or six generations since it entered the camper - meet the same fate.
Devil's Matchstick Lichen
Someone wrote to the Airstream Magazine suggesting that you soak cotton balls in peppermint extract and place them throughout the camper -- she said it keeps the mice away. I didn't do this until AFTER we had a mouse (mice?) in the camper, so it didn't ward them off. Whether it was the extract or your dad's traps that got rid of them, I'll never know.
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