... So I started to haul stuff out. Lawn furniture. Garden hoses. Rakes and shovels and tarps and all the other crap a shed holds.
And then I got to an old, lined grill cover, wadded up in the back corner where I had tossed it some time before. As I started to pick it up, I noticed holes. Holes that had been chewed through the cover.
Oh boy, I thought. Either something IS in there, or something WAS in there, and either way I'm about to find out.
I gingerly lifted up the first fold of the cover to find ...
... mice. An entire neighborhood of little gray mice, their eyes shining up at me.
Awwwwww. Cute little mices!
Thankfully, there were no newborns in there. That grill cover would STILL be in that back corner, probably with bowls of food and water for the mama next to it, if there had been babies in there. But thankfully, judging by their size, these were all AT LEAST teenager mice, and thus they were about to be re-introduced to the great outdoors.
I carefully folded the cover back up, picked it up, and carried it out to the brush line., mice and all. I hope they enjoyed their little ride! I opened to cover up, to be again faced with a bunch of little mice looking up at me with their bright little eyes. Little mice who were not inclined to leave their cozy fleece-lined grill-cover home.
*sigh*
I folded the cover up, AGAIN, and left it at the brush line. I backed off and watched as a few of the mice gingerly made their way out of the cover and bounced off into the brush. When I went back the next day, all of the mice had gone.
Bye-bye, mice! Enjoy your new woodland home! I'm glad you weren't, like, bats or something. Because that might have freaked me right out.*
*I used to be pro-bat. I actually still am, sort of. I mean, they eat lots of insects blahblahblah. But have you ever seen a bat up close? Like, looked one in the face? I did, a few years ago, and I will tell you right now, they are some scary-looking creatures. So, bats? From a distance, fine. Up close, not so much.
Oh, and that goes for the giant wolf spider who was also residing in the shed. Jeezus Christ, spiders are not supposed to get that damn big.
And don't worry, no spiders were harmed in the cleaning of the shed. Mr. Wolf Spider hung out for awhile watching me work, until I got a little too close for comfort, at which point he stomped off to parts unknown. Which means that, technically, he's probably still IN the shed, but as long as I don't have to actually SEE him, I'm fine with that.
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4 comments:
You're a good person. I would have torched the shed.
I'd probably do the same thing with the mice. The spider, though? Yeah, I would have torched the shed. And the house. And the neighborhood. Just to be sure.
Aww. I haven't actually been in my garden shed for two years, so for all I know, there may be wombats in there. You are brave.
Ah yes, the old scorched-earth policy. High cost, yet extremely satisfying.
Like most people, my tolerance for any particular creature is directly related to how cute it is. Adorable little mice? Awwwww. Gigantic wolf spider? Jeezus CHRIST.
Although I do have an odd fondness for mud puppies. They're too prehistoric to hate.
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