northgrant

I woke up this morning a bit earlier than I usually do for a Sunday. Happy I was to have had once again a great sleep. Going to the front room I could tell right away that it was going to be an agreeable day. I could see thru my front door snow falling lightly and without a breath of air. It’s winter here once again. The leaves have long since fallen, the days short and the bears who once roamed have gone back to their dens. Passing to the kitchen it was tea and toast, I then fired up the computer and TBP to see the latest posts.

One of the problems here in winter is securing the house from foreign invaders that run in the walls. Winters here are harsh but not bitter but as has been told to me many times it is not the cold that gets in your bones but the relative humidity.

So understandable even to me on some level the critters outside seek shelter here in winter. With it every year comes a cat and mouse dance. Long since past our two cats, they died of old age, and with it the mouse problem has gotten worse.

But its back to the dance. At night the mice are once again are running loose and scratching in the in the walls. Its kind of cute at first but it gets old quick. Especially when those critters start gnawing above me on the beams in the ceiling.

A good trap is a hard thing to find and an American traps harder still. Going to the stores in the past couple years it seems the only ones to be found are Chinese made. The programming insists the cheapest ones are picked first, So it’s a dollar ninety nine, for pack of four. Traplines were set and next day checked. Soon after there was a rush as the stupid ones to get the cheese. A few days pass, some skulls crushed, but soon enuf the bounty dries up and back it is to square one again.

The smart ones had figured out the game.

Triggered the traps somehow without doing themselves in. Any cheese put out was just feeding the critters. The next plan was to bait the trap and then wrap it in string. Dabbing it with some peanut butter topping it all off and to hide everything. It worked for a while but soon it was back to square one again. So the solution then was to buy a more expensive trap, another six ninety nine for a pack of two. Chinese made yes but it came with a promise of a quick kill but still a mess. The new trap would succeed where the others had failed.

Being cheap it was just the cheese to start. The same dance ensued till finally forced to use string. Then not long after that the trap failed again.

Leaving only the very smartest left to run free.

The circle returns and I am woken again. Time for a better trap and it’s off to the store again. Soon at checkout with one advertised as a multi-catch it was an added expense, a free glue board included and priced at twenty dollars and ninety eight cents…

This one a Pros-series and those who buy it are certified catch masters.

The mice must know there is no exit once inside. As they run in circles in a panic they don’t bother with the cheese. Where before I could only catch one of them at night, now I catch them all day. Skipping the glue boards, no need to pay for consumables, it’s just 4 inches of water and then watch them swim.

Where once traps got baited every day.
I now do it once and its all Chinese made.

When it comes to economics

sometimes the metaphor gets tricky
then ends up skipping anyway

Bruce wrote about a car
Methinks it’s about a cat.