Mouse in the House

It was a normal morning. Breakfast, chores, getting ready for school. We bundled up in our winter clothing, ready to face the chill weather outside, put on backpacks, had family prayer, and opened up the door to face the day.

As soon as the door opened a little mouse ran in.

It must have been sheltering (or stuck) between the door and the storm door. It hid under some furniture right there by the door. The kids thought it was cool. I, not so much. I really didn't want a mouse in the house. And, even though it was small, about the size of my thumb, I really didn't want to catch a mouse. I didn't want to be late taking the kids to school. But there was a MOUSE in my house.

I had to catch it. That was all there was to it. I couldn't leave it. Who knows where it would be when we got back. In the food? The kitchen is right next to the front door. In our clothes, our beds??? No, the only option was to catch it and quick so I could get the kids to school on time.

Ewww.

I managed to herd the mouse into a corner and block off all escape routes. Then, after shifting a bunch of things in the entryway I was able to get in position to drop a cup over him. This sound so simple on paper. Or computer screen as it is. There were a lot of things being thrown around and a lot of 'ewww's, 'we're going to be late for school's, " 'Mini-Engineer, can you hold this?' 'NO!' "s and 'but I want to pet it's.

After containing it in the cup I slid a thick paper underneath, then used a knife to keep the paper on tight. I dropped it into a Rubbermaid container. Unfortunately, as I did that there was a gap and the mouse tried to get out but, as I put it down, the cup came down on his neck. He didn't make it. So, we threw him in the gutter.

Then we celebrated mommy's braveness and survival skills. Then we rushed to school, getting there at the last bell. I believe my parting words to the kids that day were "Run! I'm not signing you in tardy with the excuse that there was a mouse in the house."

Why do these things happen when Lumberjack is out of town?

FYI

I want a certain sense of separation for my kids on this blog. For that reason I will not be using their names on this blog.

Our oldest son will be referred to as Mini-Engineer
Our daughter will be Miss Independance
and our youngest son will be Sports Guy.

These names may change as their personalities change.


My husband and I may be referred to as Lumberjack and bookaholic. You can probably figure out which one is which.

First Structure.

In March we found ourselves with a need. Most of our things were in a storage unit we were paying a high monthly fee for. The unit was so packed we couldn't access anything. We wanted to move some things to our property. Also, we were moving apartments and our new one didn't allow cats. Our cats needed to go to the property and needed somewhere to stay that was sheltered from weather and predators. We didn't have electricity, and it was still pretty snowy so buying and building a shed kit was not the best option. Plus there was the whole money thing.

We decided to go old school. It only had to last for a year or so anyway.

We had plenty of logs from all the trees we were cutting down. Why not use them? 

This was the start of our shed. We braced the insides with metal rods in the ground and 2x4s.  We put poles over the top, layered on branches that still had needles, then covered it with a tarp. 

We also had to dig out that stump right there. Fun times.

This is a picture of just half of the shed. We ended up with a nice area to store some things. We also put in a home for the cats. It's nothing fancy, but it's lasted us for a year so far. It's been a good shed and was our first structure on our property. 

Tree Wars: Episode II

Attack of the Lumberjacks

We have been clearing the trees where the driveway and house will be. It has been a lot of work and but also a lot of fun. The kids are getting kind of tired of it. The photo is from about 2/3 up the driveway looking to where the house will be. If you look closely, in the middle of the photo you can see a yellow flag that is on the line of our building envelope.

Winter Wonderland

The winter has been cold and frustrating as it holds up our construction, but it is beautiful. We woke this morning to a world covered in ice. At our property everything is white.

Branches are coated with ice crystals and frost.

And I am glad to live in such a marvelous world.