Mice!

Living in a tent in the middle of the woods has gotten me used to all sorts of creatures. After all, I'm in *their* environment so it makes sense that I would have guests popping in. And for the most part, I've gotten used to them all. Wasps that dart into my tent on hot, sunny days. Moths that find my evening candlelight. And those damn ticks! And spiders and fireflies and mosquitoes and snakes and lizards so on and so on.

I've gotten used to them all, and have come to a place where I actually enjoy being in their midst, with one exception: mice!

A few weeks ago I woke up in the middle of the night with a start. I sat up in my bed wide-eyed, looking around my dark tent, searching for the source of what had startled me. Everything was quiet, so I just sat there motionless in my bed and waited for a bit. Then I heard the noise again! It was an animal, not too big. A quick animal, too quick to be a snake. And it sounded like it was right next to me. It moved again. My imagination was trying to figure out what it was. Then it moved again, and this time it sounded like it was right above me! I jumped out of bed, backed away from the noise, and reached for my flashlight.

I shined the flashlight around the ceiling of the tent just above my bed where I had heard the noise. Nothing was there and all was quiet again, so I hit the canvas ceiling with a sharp slap. There it was! I heard it run down the side of my tent for a few feet and then stop. I hit the canvas again. It ran a bit more. I banged the canvas harder, trying to knock whatever it was off the walls. Slap! Slap! Finally it was gone.

This continued for a few more nights. I'd wake up, startled by a noise. Then I'd listen for the noise again, bang the canvas around to chase the damn thing away, then fall back to sleep. I had seen both lizards and mice outside the tent, and had decided it must be one of those. The size and speed seemed about right. A few days later, I confirmed that it was indeed a mouse when I heard that same familiar noise during daylight hours and could then clearly see the cute little silhouette of a mouse walking around on top of my tent.

But mice are only cute when they're not living with you. Last week, I was out of town for a few days and when I got back home I immediately noticed that something had been in my tent. There were bits of nuts and raisins scattered here and there, and it was obvious that the mice had made their way inside while I was absent. That night the noises were different. The little bastards were running around the tent all night long. There were at least two of them. And where there are two there are ten. Damn!

So I bought some traps and caught two of them. Things are quiet again...for now. I also bought some firring strips that I'll fasten to the perimeter of the tent to better seal the canvas. I still need to go through all of my stuff and check for nests, clean up droppings, inspect my food, and so on. But for the moment its back to just spiders and moths and wasps and...no mice.