I have had some exciting experiences with mice and packrats in my rig. I have successfully live-trapped four of these little buggers over the years and released them into the wild, hopefully, to never be seen by me again.

I have been staying in San Diego this winter to help a friend of mine confront all the stuff that happens after the loss of a partner. Don left in early December. Tina and I have been slowly getting “things” done while forming a wonderful friendship.

A few days ago, Tina noticed some things happening in her garage. Bags of cat kibble were torn open. The latest one was the bag of catnip scattered on a shelf. And then we saw it: a large vermin, most likely a rat, was having a hay day in her garage. Mouselinni (named by Tina) was a brazen little bugger. It was busy whether she was home or not. It would scamper around the garage, exploring all the collecting bags as she cleaned out the other condo. It didn’t even care if Tina was in the garage. Brazen, I tell you.

I told Tina about my live traps. I have two of them, one small and one medium size. After a trip to my storage unit to pick up the traps, we were ready to live trap the bugger in her garage.

Success! We were cleaning and sorting this afternoon at her husband’s condo. Before she drove me back to EmmyLou, my home, we stopped by her house to see if the trap had gone off. Success! In the Medium-sized trap, there was Mouselinni. Anxious to be let out, anxious to be back in the garage creating havoc.

We had other plans. We went to the same canyon where my last catch, Ratty-pa-Tatty, the pack rat, was released. When I opened the trap, Mouselinni did not want to come out. How could he not like such a beautiful, lush outdoor area? I heard it saying, “I want to return to the garage”. He finally came out and disappeared into the plants. Tina and I celebrated the end of the adventure with this little rat.

Just in case the traps have been reset to make sure Mouselinni did not have any friends with him. Peanut butter works well for bait.

Janet 5…Mouse or Rat 0.

I am feeling thankful.