Brought a couple of buckets in to keep the pile in the basement full. It was sunny all day and in the low 50's. I felt pretty bad when I lifted one split and watched the mouse run off. We catch mice in the trap inside and our cats get them all the time but when I destroyed this guy's home for the winter getting the wood to keep mine warm the irony wasn't lost on me. We all do what we feel we must to survive. Still, it made me feel like a piece of crap.
I've never felt bad about that sort of thing... I don't have cats myself but there always seem to be cat roaming around. Wish they would catch more mice.
When I bought my house, it had sat vacant for close to a year and the mice were pretty well established inside. It took several months of sealing up holes, trapping and dispatching before we finally stopped finding evidence that they were living there rent-free. Then when we got chickens, an army of rats started hanging around outside in the backyard. They dug an elaborate network of tunnels, chewing through the chicken wire on the floor of the run and began robbing my hens of their food at night. In fits of rage I'd fill their tunnels with concrete, reinforce the floor of the run, and seal up any small hole I could find. Again, months of trapping and plinking went by before they stopped being an issue. This year it was the chipmunks and squirrels. I lost entire crops of oak and walnut trees I planted. All that work collecting nuts in the fall, stratifying them, and planting them with care was wiped out within days. So the critters in my yard get no sympathy anymore. Once all the trees I plant are well-established, I'll leave them alone. The mice outside don't bother me as long as they stay outdoors. I know they've set up shop in most if not all of my wood piles, and that's fine. The rats need to be dispatched whenever I can get a shot off though. I used to be tolerant and somewhat empathetic to their struggle, but they've proven to be indifferent to mine.
Good day for doing that. Dont worry theyll build a new nest rather fast. Better outside than in. Find them all the time in my stacks.
