Mice on the Brain

I said that we have had an invasion of mice. We have repelled the invasion. I think. I hope. But now we have mice on the brain. 

As I said, Larry caught our baby mouse last Sunday, but baby mice don’t come singly, or in pairs. The internet is a wonderful source of information. So Wikipedia: “The gestation period is about 19–21 days, and they give birth to a litter of 3–14 young (average six to eight).” So having caught one baby, the second that we caught on the sticky paper was no surprise. The next day we caught four more babies on the sticky paper. Six—a normal litter; and we haven’t seen any since, so we hope we got them all. 
 

We have identified how the mice got in, and the hole is now closed—from the garage into the floor-ceiling through a small gap where the baseboard was not quite tight. We have as close to positive proof of the entry point as we could ask for. They probably entered while we were gone Christmas, which gave them a couple of weeks to settle in and explore. So with adults running free and having babies, we have to clean the closets and floor and kitchen cupboards/drawers and on and on. Or Lois has to. I help as I can, but I am not as thorough as she is. This is a job for a real thorough cleaning.
 

The pictures give an idea. You can see the baby mouse sitting in the middle of the floor, oblivious to the danger. You see also the kitchen and dining room in a state of disarray. Spring cleaning in January. Our consolation is that, when we’re done, the house will be truly clean. 

Meanwhile we still have mice on the brain. Still thinking about that collective noun for mice: A fever of mice?