(Beauty, aint she?)

Fact: If humans had the physical abilities of mice, they could easily jump over tall buildings in a single bound, out run a speeding bullet, hear a whisper or smell food a mile away, and carve a large totem pole with our front teeth in a normal 8 hour work day.

Their natural enemies include humans, cats, foxes, snakes, owls, hawks, and sometimes dogs.

Did I mention we are now in the market for a cat, fox, snake, owl and hawk?

Last year we decided to store our 12ft pop up camper at the land we purchased in Holyoke MN. Ryan laughed as I emptied all the curtains, cushions and anything that could catch a foul odor during storage. Little did he know, I did the right thing.

We pulled it up in the driveway and proceded to pop it open.

WE HAD BEEN INVATED!

Scattered across the counter tops, floors and beds were these little black rice sized droppings interspersed with acorn shells. Further investigation revealed shredded insulation that had been used to make these nice little cloud soft nests in the drawers and cabinets. We spent the afternoon cleaning out the nests, vacuuming up the acorns and droppings, and disinfecting all of the drawers with a bleach solution. I also patched multiple holes of canvas and and now and forever will be patching screens with needles!!

Our visitors are no longer cute furry little critters with big black eyes nor the cartoon dipected creatures dining on a feast of cheese! No, these were uninvited invaders — enemies of the state trespassing on protected soil!

Ryan has caught one thanks to the help of the kids and we know there is at least 1-2 more that came along for the ride from Holyoke. Traps, poison and Bounce Dryer sheets are not the solution to abating this type of invasion. In the military, a commander will quickly tell you that if you want to win a war, you must know your enemy. Where they sleep, what they eat, how they think, what they value and what weapons they have at their disposal. I knew if I was going to win this war, I must approach it like a true military commander. I must, in my own mind, become a mouse!!! GAME ON RODENTS!

(You must know, I will not be hunting, that is Ryan's job)

The mice in our camper completely soiled the ruffled valance around the top of the camper. I was not going to be cleaning mouse pee out... Gross. We ripped it out completly and I became Martha Stuart....

Do I sew?? Um, absolutely not! But so far, pretty good results. May I ad, its a much updated touch to the 1996 flowered pattern that was in prior.

Check out those pleats!!!

More to come on the revamp.....