Father's Day #3

Started Father's Day at 2:30am. Wife woke me up saying "there's a noise." Got up to investigate. At first I thought it was a cat in the litter box. Then traced the noise to the kitchen wall. Sounds like a mouse eating through the wood. So into the attic I crawl. The noise is coming from the only 5ft. section of the attic I can't actually get to because the space is so small and completely filled with a heater return duct. I'll deal with it later. On to the web to find mouse traps and exterminator services, just in case.

Back into bed by 3:30ish. Wife let me sleep in until 7:30 - THANK YOU! Before kids, I had trouble getting out of bed before 8, and now I'm usually up by 6.

I had spent Thursday morning at daycare with my oldest making a Father’s day project with him and took it home with me the same day. My youngest, at the same daycare, brought home the projects he had been working on and I got to open these at breakfast. The oldest one was sad he didn’t have anything to give me, so he went upstairs and colored me a new card. Spent the morning with the kids, mostly watching movies, while the wife organized photos & videos on the computer. Then the wife took the kids out shopping, so back into the attic I went. This time I found a hole in some plywood with teeth marks around it away from the kitchen wall. Also found mouse turds and piles of sunflower seed shells. Since I didn't have any mouse traps and I was already dirty from the attic and my wife was going to come home soon, I decided to prep for running more network cables for the upstairs. Got all the holes drilled and verified the holes went where I needed – between two attic spaces that can only be accessed on your belly.

Wife comes home with groceries and we call her dad for Father’s Day. By the time we hang up, we have to get dinner going. I get the coals going in the grill and begin on the cabbage (garlic, butter, salt, pepper, & paprika on cabbage wedges). Wife works on the chicken (peanut) and dessert (blueberry-strawberry-rhubarb crunch). It all turned out quite well. We usually have dinner with nearby family every Sunday, but one of their kids had a fever. They brought us a pair of extra mouse traps in exchange for some of the dinner we had made.

Played with the kids some, and then they are off to bed. Back into the attic I went and pulled the network cables. Once I finished that, I set the two traps – one where a pile of sunflower seeds were, and the other along a path I suspected the mouse was travelling. Closed up the attic and headed downstairs. As soon as I got there, more mouse scratching in the kitchen wall. Guess I took too long to set the traps. Out into the garage to put tools & dirty clothes away and then into the shower just before 10pm and then to sleep.

Monday evening I went back to check on the traps and found the mouse had taken the bait. No more scratching in the wall!